Clinton Hill-based So Percussion wins Grammy Award
With the highest profile award in the industry now next to their name, members say they hope it will continue to bring more people into the world of percussion chamber music.
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Sō Percussion, an all-percussion quartet based out of a studio in Clinton Hill, won a 2025 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble.
Eric Cha-Beach, one of the group's members and co-artistic directors, admits in the 25 years they have been together, Sō has "not focused on trying to win awards because a lot of the music we make is really weird."
Their name comes from a Japanese word that can mean "to play an instrument," or "to be successful."
Another one of the co-artistic directors, Adam Sliwinski admits "it was all aspirational, because it wasn't really something that had an established model."
"You figure, you do what you believe in, and people will find it," added Cha-Beach.
So far, some of the world's top composers have - including Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw, who Sō worked with to co-compose the winning project, called "Rectangles and Circumstance."
It was the second album Sō had worked on with Shaw, and members say they knew it was special.
“If we hadn't won, we'd still be as proud of this thing. when I'm on my death bed, I think this is a project I'm going to press play on and listen," said Josh Quillen.
Of course, they did win, with Cha-Beach at the ceremony in Los Angeles while the other three members watched from home.
When their name was called, Sliwinski says "we kind of freaked out. Even more than we were expecting to."
Since their start, Sō has made it a point to try to share their music with others - even opening up their studio to local artists once a month.
With the highest profile award in the industry now next to their name, members say they hope it will continue to bring more people into the world of percussion chamber music.
"If this opens doors where we can keep finding people who are less well known and making their music more visible, that would be a success," says Cha-Beach.
The group is also planning on two weeks of shows in May at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
