This is the third interview in Cultural Attaché’s Icons 2025 series and it features David Skidmore of Third Coast Percussion. Skidmore is a founding member of the ensemble best known for its work in the contemporary classical world.
My conversation with David Skidmore was timed to the release of Standard Stoppages which was released on April 11th. As they often do, Third Coast Percussion relied on new works for the album. Standard Stoppages featured compositions by Musekiwa Chingodza, Jlin, Tigran Hamasyan, Jessie Montgomery and the late Zakir Hussain.
One of my favorite things to discuss is not just how an artist or group celebrates an anniversary, but what they do to look forward to the next milestone in their careers. That was something David Skidmore and his fellow Third Coast Percussion bandmates (Sean Collins, Robert Dillon and Peter Martin) have been thinking about.
Skidmore talks about what Third Coast Percussion imagined their future to be 20 years ago, what they think their future might be 20 years from now and how their collaborations with numerous composers have broadened both contemporary classical music and its audience.
One of my favorite things Skidmore said during our conversation was, “Great music isn’t only the arrangement and orchestration that people know of it already. Great music can be great with a lot of different costumes.” I found that pretty intriguing, don’t you?
This interview took place on March 13th and was posted on May 7th.
To see the print version of this interview (which also features a Third Coast Percussion video), please go HERE.
Photo: David Skidmore in the Cultural Attaché Interview