Third Coast Percussion Performs World Premiere and West Coast Premiere of New Works by Jlin, Plus East Coast Touring Dates of Strum, Strike, Bend

Jlin’s Fragmentation and Premonition Premiere at The 92nd Street Y in New York
with West Coast Premieres at UC Santa Barbara

UCSB World Premiere of New Work by David Longstreth

Violinist Simone Porter Performs in Acclaimed Strum, Strike, Bend 
Program at Swarthmore College and 92NY

February 7, 2026 | Swarthmore College – Swarthmore, PA
February 13, 2026 | The 92nd Street Y, New York, NY
February 19, 2026 | UCSB – Santa Barbara, CA

“Virtuosity and deft, precisely timed wit” – The Washington Post 

www.thirdcoastpercussion.com

New York, NY (January 13, 2026) – In a string of season highlights this February, the GRAMMY® Award-winning Third Coast Percussion (TCP) quartet will feature their acclaimed Strum, Strike, Bend program along with two newly commissioned works by electronic music phenom Jlin, which TCP will perform in both their World and West Coast Premieres. 

Called “immensely enjoyable” and “prodigiously gifted” (Gramophone), TCP takes the stage with violinist Simone Porter in the season’s first performance of Strum, Strike, Bend at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, PA on Saturday, February 7, 2026 at 8:00pm. 

On Friday, February 13, 2026 at 7:30pm, TCP and Porter bring the Strum, Strike, Bend program to The 92nd Street Y, New York, where Jlin will also join TCP as a performer in the World Premiere of her new pieces Fragmentation and Premonition, both 92NY commissions. Representing the next step in a decade-long partnership between TCP and Jlin, these new works are the first she has composed for herself to perform alongside TCP.

TCP and Jlin go on to perform these works in their West Coast Premiere on Thursday, February 19, 2026 at 8:00pm, appearing as part of the UCSB Arts & Lectures series at the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Campbell Hall. This expansive program also brings the World Premiere of a new work by David Longstreth; acoustic interpretations of Jlin’s work by TCP and a live electronic set by Jlin; and TCP’s arrangement of Philip Glass’s Mishima.

Introduced for TCP’s 20th anniversary during the 2024-2025 season, Strum, Strike, Bend features four TCP commissions – Jessie Montgomery’s Suite from In Color and Lady Justice/Black Justice, The Song; Jlin’s Please Be Still; and Tigran Hamasyan’s Sonata for Percussion – alongside Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Violin with Percussion Orchestra, featuring Porter in this February’s performances.

Just before these performances, on February 1, 2026, TCP will be in contention at the 68th Annual GRAMMY Awards® with two nominations – the eighth and ninth in their two-decade history – for their album Standard Stoppages, released in April 2025 on Cedille Records. 

Featured Programs
Saturday, February 7, 2026 at 8:00pm 
Swarthmore College
Lang Concert Hall | Swarthmore, PA
Link: https://www.swarthmore.edu/music/third-coast-percussion-0

          Program:
          Jlin – Please Be Still
          Jessie Montgomery (arr. Sean Connors) – Suite from In Color
          Tigran Hamasyan – Sonata for Percussion
          Jessie Montgomery – Lady Justice/Black Justice, The Song
          Lou Harrison – Concerto for Violin with Percussion Orchestra

Friday, February 13, 2026 at 7:30pm 
The 92nd Street Y presents Third Coast Percussion, Simone Porter, and Jlin
Kaufmann Concert Hall | New York, NY
Link: www.92ny.org/event/third-coast-percussion-simone-porter-and-jlin
Streaming access is available for $25 for 72 hours after the performance.

          Program:
          Jlin – Please Be Still
          Jessie Montgomery – Lady Justice/Black Justice, The Song
          Tigran Hamasyan – Sonata for Percussion
          Jessie Montgomery (arr. Sean Connors) – Suite from In Color
          Lou Harrison – Concerto for Violin with Percussion Orchestra
          Jlin – Fragmentation and Premonition [World Premiere; 92NY Commission]

Thursday, February 19, 2026 at 8:00pm 
UCSB Arts & Lectures
Campbell Hall | Santa Barbara, CA
Link: artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/events-tickets/events/25-26/jlin-and-third-coast-percussion/

          Program:
          David Longstreth – New Work [World Premiere]
          Philip Glass – Mishima (arr. by Peter Martin and Third Coast Percussion)
          Jlin – (all works arr. by Third Coast Percussion)
          Fragmentation [West Coast Premiere]
          Premonition [West Coast Premiere]
          Derivative 
          Fourth Perspective 
          Embryo 
          Five Perspectives
          Carbon 12 
          Summon 
          Alkebulan (rework of Mozart’s Requiem)
          Grannie’s Cherry Pie 
          David Skidmore – Torched and Wrecked (reworked by Jlin)

More About Third Coast Percussion
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). Its 20th anniversary recording, Standard Stoppages (Cedille Records), received two nominations for the 2026 GRAMMY® Awards in the categories of Best Engineered Album, Classical and Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. 

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 2025-2026 season takes the ensemble from Chicago to New York, Boston, Los Angeles, and beyond, with almost two dozen domestic engagements. International tour dates include first performances in Serbia, Montenegro, and Latvia, plus engagements in Paris. In Chicago, TCP performs at The Art Institute of Chicago, The University of Chicago, and more. The ensemble also conducts residencies at Denison University in Ohio and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Alberta, Canada, as well as masterclasses at dozens of tour stops. TCP’s new tour programs include 20th Anniversary commissions by Zakir Hussain, Jessie Montgomery, Tigran Hamasyan, and more. 

Known for its devoted audience engagement, TCP has performed live in 42 of the 50 states and Washington, D.C., plus international tour dates across four continents and 17 countries, amassing more than 300,000 total audience members. Its artists are also accomplished teachers who have developed a wealth of K-12 workshops, family programming, and educational partnerships benefiting thousands of Chicago students.

TCP has commissioned and premiered new works from Zakir Hussain, Jessie Montgomery, Philip Glass, Clarice Assad, Danny Elfman, Jlin, Tigran Hamasyan, Augusta Read Thomas, Devonté Hynes, Missy Mazzoli, Ivan Trevino, Tyondai Braxton, and leading early-career composers through their annual Currents Creative Partnership. Commissions from many of these artists feature in TCP’s extensive discography. Jlin’s Perspective, a TCP commission, was a 2023 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. The ensemble has also produced exciting new art through unlikely collaborations with engineers, architects, and dancers. With strong ties throughout Chicago, Third Coast has collaborated with many of the city’s cultural and civic institutions.

TCP’s recordings include 21 feature albums and appearances on 14 additional collaborative releases. Besides putting its stamp on iconic percussion works by John Cage and Steve Reich – including its GRAMMY®-winning album of Steve Reich’s works for percussion – the quartet has created recordings of numerous TCP-commissioned works and original compositions. During the 2024-2025 season, they released two new acclaimed albums: Aguas da Amazonia (Rockwell Records), capturing TCP’s bespoke arrangement for Twyla Tharp Dance of the title work by Philip Glass, and Standard Stoppages (Cedille Records).

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. Members of Third Coast also hold degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Rutgers University, the New England Conservatory, and the Yale School of Music.

Follow Third Coast on Instagram (@ThirdCoastPercussion), YouTube (@thirdcoastpercussion), TikTok (@thirdcoastpercussion), Facebook (@Third Coast Percussion), and LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/third-coast-percussion).

*Third Coast Percussion is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization.

More About Jlin
Jlin (Jerrilynn Patton) has quickly become one of the most distinctive composers in America 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). She is a recipient of a 2023 US Artist award and a 2023 Pulitzer Prize nomination. Her mini-album Perspective was released to critical acclaim on Planet Mu 2023. Her much-lauded albums Dark Energy (2015) and Black Origami (2017) have appeared on “Best of” lists in The New York Times, The Wire, LA Times, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, and Vogue. Jlin has been commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, Third Coast Percussion, the Pathos Quartet, choreographers Wayne McGregor and Kyle Abraham, fashion designer Rick Owens, and the visual artists Nick Cave and Kevin Beasley. 

Her latest release, Akoma (Planet Mu March 2024), features collaborations with Philip Glass, Bjork, and Kronos Quartet.

More About Simone Porter
Violinist Simone Porter has been recognized as an emerging artist of impassioned energy, interpretive integrity, and vibrant communication. She has debuted with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle and Pittsburgh Symphonies and with a number of renowned conductors, including Stéphane Denève, Gustavo Dudamel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Nicholas McGegan, Ludovic Morlot, Donald Runnicles, David Robertson, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Manfred Honeck, Louis Langrée and David Danzmayr. Simone made her professional solo debut at age 10 with the Seattle Symphony and her international debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London at age 13. In March 2015, Simone was named a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Porter’s recent seasons include extensive US touring with debuts and return visits to orchestras such as Colorado, North Carolina, St. Louis, Oregon, Nashville, Baltimore, Hawaii, Grand Rapids, Arkansas, Omaha, Quebec, Jacksonville and Westchester symphonies, Erie Philharmonic, Florida Orchestra and many more. After a busy summer of festival performances at Methow Valley, Bellingham, Bowdoin, Charlottesville and Britt Festival, 25/26 season begins with a return to Oregon Symphony marking the first year of Porter’s Artist in residence with the orchestra, a title she will hold through 27/28 season. In the spring of 2027 she will return to Buffalo Philharmonic and embark on a tour with the orchestra to Florida performing Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy under the baton of JoAnn Falletta. Internationally, Simone has performed with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra with Gustavo Dudamel; the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira in Rio de Janeiro; the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica; the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong; the Royal Northern Sinfonia; the Milton Keynes City Orchestra in the United Kingdom; Orquesta Clásica Santa Cecilia de la Fundación Excelentia in Madrid; the Opéra de Marseille and at the Edinburgh Festival performing Barber under the direction of Stéphane Denève.

In January 2026 Porter will lead a side-by-side project with New Century Chamber Orchestra and students of San Francisco Conservatory, presented in San Francisco and at Stanford Live. Recent recital highlights include a tour in Spain with pianist Pallavi Mahidhara and debuts at Celebrity Series in Boston and NY92, both of which featured the newly commissioned piece by composer Reena Esmail. An avid chamber musician, Porter has appeared at festivals such as La Jolla Summerfest, Bay Chamber Music, Moab Music Festival, Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival and many more. Together with her colleagues violinist Blake Pouliot and pianist Hsin-I Huang, Porter presented a program at Cliburn Foundation in Fort Worth, TX and Broad Stage in Santa Monica, CA in spring of 2025.

February 2025 marked the release of her highly acclaim first solo album ad tendo on the Bright Shiny Things label, featuring pieces by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Reena Esmail, Andrew Norman, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber and Hildegard von Bingen. At the invitation of Salonen, Porter performed his work ‘Lachen verlernt’ (‘Laughing Unlearnt’), at the New York Philharmonic’s “Foreign Bodies,” a multi-sensory celebration of the work of the composer and conductor. Simone made her Carnegie Zankel Hall debut on the Emmy Award-winning TV show From the Top: Live from Carnegie Hall followed in November 2016 by her debut in Stern Auditorium. She will return to Carnegie in December of 2024 together with cellist Joshua Roman as a part of their Well-Being Concert. In June 2016, her featured performance of music from Schindler’s List with Maestro Gustavo Dudamel and members of the American Youth Symphony was broadcast nationally on the TNT Network as part of the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award: A Tribute to John Williams.

Raised in Seattle, Washington, Simone studied with Margaret Pressley as a recipient of the Dorothy Richard Starling Scholarship, and was then admitted into the studio of the renowned pedagogue Robert Lipsett, with whom she studied at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles. Summer studies have included many years at the Aspen Music Festival, Indiana University's Summer String Academy, and the Schlern International Music Festival in Italy.

Simone Porter performs on a 1740 Carlo Bergonzi violin made in Cremona, Italy on generous loan from The Master’s University, Santa Clarita, California.

*Photo Credit: Martine Severin