PASIC 2026 features a dynamic lineup of keyboard percussion events highlighting global influences and contemporary developments. Pius Cheung presents a Daytime Showcase Concert blending Chinese and Japanese aesthetics with Western percussion, featuring solo and ensemble works that emphasize resonance and gesture. The Heartland Marimba International Festival Orchestra performs a diverse program including new transcriptions and original compositions. Percussionist Kuniko Kato leads the REICH90 project, celebrating Steve Reich’s 90th anniversary with minimalist masterpieces. The Lucid Duo marks their 15th anniversary with works spanning classical arrangements and new compositions. Educational sessions include Juan Álamo’s clinic on integrating harmony and improvisation into warm-ups, and Greg Giannoscoli’s masterclass on mastering the etudes of Clair Omar Musser. Overall, PASIC 2026 showcases evolving artistic voices and an expanding role for keyboard percussion in intercultural music-making.

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As always, there are spectacular Keyboard events happening at PASIC 2026. They represent a multitude of countries, cultures, and thoughts: ranging from new compositions and transcriptions, to homage to our concert keyboard roots, to the champion composers in our history, and finally to our contemporary approach to music-making. 

DAYTIME SHOWCASE CONCERTS
Pius Cheung and Friends Heaven and Earth
From Pius: “This Daytime Showcase Concert presents a selection of my recent works that reflect a new phase in my development both as composer and performer. Centered on keyboard percussion, the program explores an evolving musical language shaped by Chinese and Japanese influences, integrated within contemporary Western percussion practice. The program includes: “Nian3” for solo bass drum; Brahms’ “Intermezzo in A Major, Op. 118, No.2”; Piazolla’s “Libertango”; “Hibiki” for solo marimba, version b; and “Suite from Heaven and Earth” for percussion ensemble, featuring young talent from Oregon.While these pieces differ in instrumentation and scale, they share a common focus on resonance, gesture, and physicality, and on approaching intercultural influence as an underlying compositional framework rather than surface reference. 

“This concert marks a return to solo recital at PASIC after nearly 20 years. My previous PASIC solo recital focused on my earlier, more “romantic” works for marimba. While the core expressive intent of my music remains consistent, the language has changed significantly, moving toward an approach shaped by long-term engagement with East Asian aesthetics. The program also features two of my arrangements, presented as points of reference rather than featured works. These arrangements serve to frame the trajectory of my artistic development and to connect familiar repertoire with the musical language of my recent compositions. 

“This concert is intended for performers, educators, and listeners interested in contemporary keyboard percussion repertoire that reflects both continuity and change in artistic voice, and in the expanding role of marimba and percussion within intercultural music-making.”

Pius Cheung has presented solo recitals at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, National Concert Hall in Taipei, Kyoto Arts Center (Japan), and such music festivals as the Usedom Music Festival (Germany), Hong Kong Arts Festival, Taiwan International Percussion Convention, Osaka Percussion Festival, and Shenyang International Percussion Festival (China). Cheung’s latest compositions include “Allegro Brutale,” commissioned by Dame Evelyn Glennie; “Heaven and Earth,” a ballet for percussion ensemble and dancers; two percussion concerti, “Princess Chang Ping” and “Heaven and Earth” for the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra; and “Theater, Resonance, and Zen,” a percussion duo concerto for the Taiwan Chinese Orchestra. Cheung is a Professor and Chair of Percussion at the University of Oregon.

Heartland Marimba
The Heartland Marimba International Festival Orchestra
The 2026 HMIF Orchestra will perform three concerts at PASIC 2026 in Indianapolis on Friday, Nov. 13, in the Artsgarden venue located over the intersection of Illinois and Washington Streets, and connected to the Indiana Convention Center. The music selected for the 2026 Orchestra includes Heartland Marimba “standards” like Simpson’s “Fluidity,” new transcriptions like Stravinsky’s “Petrushka,” a cimbalom concerto, a recent Call for Scores winner, and other selections. 

Heartland Marimba has performed hundreds of events across the country since its creation in 2014 by Matthew Coley. With its mission of reaching a wider audience and increasing marimba appreciation, Heartland Marimba collaborates with a variety of community organizations. HM seeks to support a diverse roster of composers with such initiatives as their New Music USA grant (2020) and the New Quartets Project (2021). With co-artistic director Jenni Brandon, Heartland Marimba facilitated the creation of Brandon’s “Death Valley Symphony,” a 5-movement, hour-long work for marimba quartet, choir, percussion, and piano. 

Kuniko Kato
REICH90
World-renowned percussionist Kuniko Kato collaborates with Japan’s emerging percussionists in the ongoing Steve Reich Project. The 2026 edition, REICH90, celebrates Reich’s 90th anniversary through iconic minimalist masterpieces, showcasing a vibrant dialogue between Reich’s musical legacy and the next generation of performers. 

Kuniko Kato is celebrated for her visionary artistry, technical precision, and deeply expressive interpretations. Her performances and recordings of such composers as Steve Reich, Arvo Pärt, and Iannis Xenakis have been widely praised for their clarity, intensity, and architectural insight, while her interpretations of J.S. Bach on marimba have redefined the instrument’s expressive possibilities. Her recordings have received international critical acclaim. Kato’s artistic practice is characterized by a commitment to expanding the boundaries of percussion performance through interdisciplinary collaboration, commissioning new works, and reimagining canonical repertoire. Since 2016, Kato has demonstrated a strong social commitment through her artist incubation initiative, fostering and mentoring the next generation of percussionists.

Lucid Duo
Celebrating the 15th anniversary of Lucid Duo, this showcase presents a program for two marimbas that reflects the ensemble’s most significant artistic milestones, as well as the personal and musical connections that have shaped its development over time. The repertoire includes original arrangements of works by Bach, Beethoven, and Ravel alongside compositions written specifically for Lucid Duo by Tomasz Gołinski, as well as a work by Keiko Abe, who has been a central source of inspiration for the ensemble. Through this diverse program, the session highlights the marimba’s capacity to reinterpret the classical canon while actively expanding the contemporary repertoire for keyboard percussion. The performance demonstrates the expressive range, technical precision, and musical cohesion of the marimba duo, offering insight into 15 years of collaborative performance, repertoire development, and artistic growth.

Lucid Duo’s performance is a compelling showcase of marimba virtuosity. As first-prize winners of the Universal Marimba Competition (Belgium, 2011), Irena Manolova and Tomasz Goliński have performed extensively at international festivals and concert halls across Europe, Asia, and Mexico. Their work has been presented at major venues including the Auditorio de Tenerife, National Concert Hall Taipei, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, Izumi Hall Osaka, and Ginza Yamaha Hall Tokyo. They have been featured at such renowned festivals as the Taiwan International Percussion Convention, Sofia Music Weeks, the Festival Internacional de Marimbistas (Mexico), and the Midis-Minimes Festival (Belgium). They have given lectures and masterclasses at leading institutions and have served as guest jury members for international percussion competitions.

CLINICS
Juan Álamo
A Musical Approach to Warm-Ups: Integrating Harmony, Improvisation, and Groove in Percussion Keyboard Studies 
This presentation explores a musical, harmony-based approach to warm-ups for percussion keyboardists, reframing technical development as an integrated study of sound, groove, and improvisation. Drawing from Juan Álamo’s text Marimbissimo: A Musical Guide to Chordal Voicing and Improvisation for Intermediate to Advanced Marimba Players, the session demonstrates how warm-ups can function as creative, stylistically flexible material rather than isolated technical drills. Designed for use in private lessons and studio class settings, the concepts focus on developing harmonic awareness, time feel, and improvisational fluency alongside traditional four-mallet technique. Attendees will be introduced to practical exercises that incorporate chordal voicings, groove-based comping, and scalar and arpeggio-driven improvisation, all adapted specifically for marimba and keyboard percussion. 

Dr. Juan Álamo is a marimbist, composer, and educator from Caguas, Puerto Rico, known for blending classical technique, Latin rhythms, and jazz improvisation. He is Professor of Percussion at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His genre-crossing discography includes Remembrance (2007), Marimjazzia (2014), Pursuing Freedom (2016), Ruta Panorámica (2019), Ensoñación (2021), and Marimbissimo (2024). Álamo has authored pedagogical texts including Four Mallet Music for the Modern Marimba Player and Marimbissimo: A Musical Guide to Chordal Voicing and Improvisation. He is also co-author of Milt Jackson: Transcribed Solos of the Master.

MASTERCLASS
Greg Giannascoli
The Etudes of Clair Omar Musser
The Etudes of Clair Omar Musser are quality pieces of music, historically important, and excellent teaching tools that address specific technical and musical issues. These issues will be covered with ideas and solutions presented to the performers and related to the audience in ways that can be applied generally to more repertoire. The session will open with a brief talk about Musser’s life, music, and career. Given that these pieces are standards in developmental repertoire, the session will also include a brief statement on where these pieces should be taught in the general order of study.

Greg Giannascoli was the top prize winner at two international young artist competitions. He has performed in recital and as a soloist with orchestra throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Greg performed on the Grammy-nominated recording of George Crumb’s American Song Book VII; Songs of the Heartland. Greg’s book, Opinions on the Marimba, published by Heartland Marimba Festival Publications, contains interviews with many leading marimba players about what they learned from their teachers, what evolved along the way, and what they now teach their students.