GRAMMY® Award–winning percussion ensemble Third Coast Percussion and Pulitzer Prize–finalist composer/performer/electronic musician Jlin join together in a program that explores the evolution of their decade-long partnership. In a collaboration that could have only originated in Chicago, this special evening delivers a fresh sound, as TCP’s contemporary classical training meets Jlin’s visceral and innovative electronic practice.

A proud native of Gary, Indiana, Jlin’s signature sound is influenced by her origins in the Chicago Footwork scene, but not defined by it. Equally inspired by West Chicago legend RP Boo as by Igor Stravinsky and Philip Glass, Miles Davis and Eartha Kitt, Jlin’s complex percussion-driven work has a sophisticated and uniquely polyrhythmic sound of its own. Her collaborations with TCP represent Jlin’s early and pivotal entry points into composing for acoustic ensembles. Their “commandingly elegant” (NY Times) and creative performances both inspire and converse with Jlin’s genre-busting compositions.

Experience Jlin performing the electronic renditions of her compositions alongside acoustic realizations of the pieces performed by TCP. New music for TCP by Dirty Projectors frontman David Longstreth and a new arrangement of a work by Philip Glass complete the program.

This presentation of Vernacular is presented in partnership with the Chicago Humanities Festival.

About the Artists

Jlin (Jerrilynn Patton) has quickly become one of the most distinctive composers in the United States and one of the most influential women in electronic music. Jlin’s thrilling, emotional, and multidimensional compositions have earned her praise as “one of the most forward-thinking contemporary composers in any genre” (Pitchfork) and a 2023 United States Artist award. She was a 2023 Pulitzer Prize nominee for Perspectives—originally commissioned and performed by Third Coast Percussion. Her mini-album Perspective, featuring the original electronic versions of the suite, was released to critical acclaim on Planet Mu 2023. Her much-lauded albums Dark Energy (2015) and Black Origami (2017) have been featured in “Best of” lists in The New York Times, The Wire, LA Times, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, and Vogue. She has remixed works for major artists including Björk, Max Richter, Martin Gore (of Depeche Mode), Galya Bisengalieva, Marie Davidson, Nina Kraviz, and Ben Frost. In the last decade, Jlin has been commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, Third Coast Percussion, the Pathos Quartet, legendary choreographers Wayne McGregor and Kyle Abraham, fashion designer Rick Owens, and the visual artists Nick Cave and Kevin Beasley. Jlin has collaborated with contemporary artists including William Basinski, Dope Saint Jude, Holly Herndon, Zora Jones, and the late, iconic SOPHIE. Her latest album, Akoma (Planet Mu), was released in March 2024 and features collaborations with Philip Glass, Björk, and Kronos Quartet.

Third Coast Percussion (TCP) is Chicago’s GRAMMY® Award–winning percussion quartet and GRAMMY®-nominated composer collective that made history as the first percussion ensemble to win the revered music award in the classical genre. To date, TCP has garnered seven total GRAMMY® nominations, with the individual musicians receiving two additional nominations. After marking its 20th anniversary in 2025, TCP continues its milestone celebrations with exciting and unexpected performances worldwide that constantly redefine the classical music experience and “push percussion in new directions, blurring musical boundaries and beguiling new listeners” (NPR), with a brilliantly varied sonic palette and “dazzling rhythmic workouts” (Pitchfork). Representing “one of the most enterprising and creative ensembles working today” (WFMT), the artists of Third Coast Percussion are in-demand collaborators who have worked closely with a range of artists including choreographers Twyla Tharp, Lil Buck, and Jon Boogz; composer/performers Zakir Hussain, Jessie Montgomery, and Jlin; and composers Philip Glass, Missy Mazzoli, and Danny Elfman, among many others. The ensemble has been praised for the “rare power” (Washington Post) of its 30+ recordings, and its “inspirational sense of fun and curiosity” (Minnesota Star-Tribune). The four members of Third Coast Percussion (Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and David Skidmore) met while studying percussion at Northwestern University and formed the ensemble in 2005.