About

(χαρά, Greek for ”Finding Joy despite circumstance”)

Chara Percussion Ensemble from Orleans, Massachusetts, seeks to bring hope and inspire joy in audiences young and old through the vehicle of percussion ensemble. Chara offers a fresh voice to classical music ranging from early polyphony to classical, impressionist, and contemporary works, as well as performing pieces written for percussion ensemble. Repertoire includes works by J. S. Bach, Bartok, Burritt, Bruckner, Byrd, Deane, Debussy, Dvořák, Eben, Gjelo, Glass, Hale, Handel, Keck, Krasa, Leontovych, Merulo, Mozart, Pergolesi, Piazzolla, Rachmaninov, Reich, Saint-Saëns, Shah, Shostakovich, Skidmore, Trevino, Viñao, Vivaldi, and Westlake.

Members of Chara hold over 100 years of combined percussion ensemble experience, and
are all alumni members or associated with Spirit Winter Percussion, the world-renowned
competitive indoor percussion ensemble recognized for bringing subtlety and complexity to the art of keyboard percussion. Members have performed in countries including Australia, Canada, Italy, S. Korea, S. Africa, and across the United States, at venues including opera houses, stadiums, cathedrals, and school auditoriums. Performance venue highlights include Seoul Opera House (South Korea); Johannesburg Opera House (South Africa); Siena and Pisa Cathedrals (Italy); Church of the Transfiguration (Orleans, MA); University of Dayton Arena (Dayton, OH); Stadiums including Gillette, AT&T and Lucas Oil. Members of Chara performed John Luther Adam’s Inuksuit with over ninety other percussionists at The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University in 2018. They have taught percussion to elementary, middle, high school, and college-age students, independent percussion ensembles, marching bands, and drum corps in the United States and Canada, and hands-on workshops in South Africa. Chara’s recent performance outreaches include performing at the Wellfleet Preservation Hall, Brewster Baptist Church, Cape Cod Museum for the Blind, Italian Home for Children, Perkins School for the Blind, and the Boston Public Library of Charlestown.

Chara Percussion is a premiere performing ensemble of Arts Empowering Life, and is endorsed by Vic Firth and Zildjian companies.

See Chara’s latest music video on their Youtube channel, Chara Percussion.