Georgetown's World Percussion Ensemble teams with Afro-Cuban drumming class for concert

Georgetown turned its spring percussion listing into more than a standard ensemble date, billing the program as a “Percussion Extravaganza” that placed the World Percussion Ensemble and the Afro-Cuban Drumming Class on the same Gonda Theatre stage. The concert was set for Sunday, April 26, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. EDT at Georgetown University’s Davis Performing Arts Center, with the opening slot assigned to the drumming class and guest artists Annamaria Mottola, Sarah Taylor Cook, and Chuco.

That pairing gave the event its real identity. Rather than treating the class as a backstage exercise, Georgetown presented it as a public performance opportunity, with students showing the results of a course built around hands-on playing, improvisation, and ensemble work. The Afro-Cuban Drumming course focuses on the core instruments of the percussion section, including tumbadoras, timbales, bongos, bells, guiro, and chekere, which means the audience was set to hear a sound world built from interlocking parts rather than a single drum set front and center.

The World Percussion Ensemble brought a broader rhythmic frame. Georgetown describes the group as a drumming ensemble that explores styles from around the globe, including Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, and Eastern traditions. For this concert, the ensemble planned to perform original compositions and arrangements, a detail that matters because it placed student creativity alongside repertory study instead of relying on traditional pieces alone. The result was a program that connected arrangement work, ensemble discipline, and the living language of percussion.

Georgetown’s Department of Performing Arts has long framed its music courses around technique, collaboration, regular practice, workshops, and public concerts, and this event fit that model closely. The 2026 season is being presented under the theme “Next: Incubating Creative Praxis,” and the Davis Performing Arts Center is also known for hosting special residencies in theater, music, and dance. In that context, the percussion concert read as part of a larger campus culture that treats performance as both craft and exchange.

The timing also placed the concert inside a long Georgetown tradition. The university says students have taken part in music ensembles there for well over a century, from orchestra and concert choir to jazz band and chamber music. A World Percussion Ensemble concert in December 2025 also highlighted original compositions and arrangements by members of the ensemble, suggesting that this April program was part of an ongoing approach, not a one-off showcase.