Bonnie Whiting is Chair of Percussion Studies at the University of Washington. She performs and commissions new experimental music for percussion, seeking out projects that involve non-traditional notation, interdisciplinary performance, and the speaking percussionist. Recent work includes a series of performances at the John Cage Centennial Festival in Washington DC, solo appearances with the National Orchestra of Turkmenistan, and as a soloist in Tan Dun’s “Water Passion” under the baton of the composer himself.
In 2011, she joined red fish blue fish percussion group in premiering the staged version of George Crumb’s “Winds of Destiny” directed by Peter Sellars and featuring Dawn Upshaw for Ojai Festival. Her debut album, featuring an original solo-simultaneous realization of John Cage’s “45′ for a speaker” and “27’10.554″ for a percussionist”, was released on the Mode Records label in April.
Whiting has collaborated with many of today’s leading new music groups, including the International Contemporary Ensemble (American premiere of James Dillon’s Nine Rivers at Miller Theatre), Ensemble Dal Niente (the Fromm Concerts at Harvard), Bang on a Can (Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians for the LA Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella Series), and eighth blackbird (the “Tune-in” festival at the Park Avenue Armory). She received her DMA in Contemporary Music Performance from the University of California San Diego, and also holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and Interlochen Arts Academy.
