TUTTI Original Works Festival 2019

What is TUTTI you might ask? TUTTI means all together, which is exactly what Denison’s TUTTI festival is - a Denison University’s Department of Music collaboration with musicians, composers, fine artists, dance artists, theatre, and creative people across genres to present a days-long festival of original works.

The Festival takes place March 4-9, 2019.

This year’s artists include Tara Booth, Nathalie Miebach, ETHEL John Carvalho, Ted Gracyk, Mark Lomax II, Adam Schoenberg, Columbus String Quartet, Michael Lockwood Crouch, Chamber Music Connection, Columbus International Children’s Choir and our featured performer Third Coast Percussion. And all of that is in addition to student works, Denison Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Singers, Jazz Ensemble and Faculty members.

A Q&A with Ching-chu Hu, Chair of the Music Department.

What does TUTTI mean? What’s the history of this festival and how has it evolved?

“TUTTI began at Denison around 2004, as a new music festival. We had a few composers come in for a weekend of concerts. Since then, it has grown to a weeklong event that brings in guest ensembles, guest artists, guest speakers, and composers from around the world for a weeklong festival of the arts. It really matches the name, as tutti means ‘all’ in Italian and is used in music to indicate that everyone is playing.”

Third Coast Percussion is the featured performer for TUTTI this year. Why are you excited about having this group on campus?

“Third Coast Percussion is an amazing quartet of artists who are extraordinary percussionists. It’s not often that we can hear and see a percussion ensemble of their caliber. They have such an exciting program and they are also actively involved with community outreach. In fact, while they are here, they are presenting their program, “Outside the Drum,” to Newark Heritage Middle School students, working with our student composers, ensembles, and other artists.”

How did you choose the performers for the festival?

“Choosing the performers begins with talking with colleagues, seeing who we would like to bring in, who is available, whether or not we bring in different artists from the past, and how they would engage within our community. We also are programming about 35 composers, who were selected from a pool of 640 submissions!

Our guest composer is Adam Schoenberg, who is one of the quickest and brightest rising American composers on the scene right now. His music is beautiful and we’re excited he’s our featured composer this year.”

All workshops and performances are free and open to the public.