Dr. Annie Stevens (assistant professor, Virginia Tech) and Dr. Andrea Venet (associate professor, University of North Florida) formed the percussion duo Escape Ten. Their inaugural performance endeavor was a three-week cross-country tour where they drove from Virginia to L.A. performing in 10 cities across the country. The name Escape Ten originates from their trademark road trip style performance tours in a Ford Escape, with many miles travelled on the I-10. Ardent about exploring all genres and expressing these creatively through the world of percussion, much of their repertoire includes exclusive commissions of innovative arrangements and compositions. They are the recipients of a marimba duo commission, Illuminations (2018) by JMU composition faculty member Eric Guinivan, awarded by the prestigious Fromm Foundation. They are consistently featured as chamber artists and clinicians nationally and internationally at music festivals, concert series, conferences and universities in addition to maintaining successful percussion studies as passionate educators. www.EscapeTen.com
Dr. Annie Stevens is the assistant professor of percussion at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, where she teaches studio percussion and directs the Virginia Tech Percussion Ensemble. As an active soloist and chamber musician throughout the U.S. and internationally, Stevens has been featured in performances at the International Computer Music Conference, the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the U.S., the Wintergreen Music Festival, Garth Newell Music Center, the International Trumpet Guild, and music conservatories in Beijing, Guangzhou and Xi’an, China. She has performed with the festival orchestras of the Music Academy of the West, National Orchestral Institute, the Aspen Music Festival, and performs regularly with the Roanoke Symphony. Her teachers include Michael Burritt, She-e Wu, Alan Abel, Chip Ross, Bill Cahn, James Ross and Tom McGowan. She can be heard on the albums Blue Earth County with the Kelly Rossum Quartet and Escape Ten’s Colours of a Groove. Full bio
Dr. Andrea Venet is a percussion artist, soloist, educator and composer specializing in contemporary and classical genres. She is an assistant professor of percussion and head of the department at the University of North Florida. As an international soloist, chamber musician and clinician, Venet maintains an active performance schedule. Select appearances include the Barnes Foundation (Philadelphia), WASBE & Àgora Actual Festivals (Spain), the Celebrate Marimba Festival, Kyoto City University of Arts, and the Prairie Music Residency Brass Band (SK, Canada). She has also been a featured performer with SNL percussionist Valerie Naranjo, Ivan Trevino, the Lawson Ensemble, PROJECT Trio, and the Eastman Percussion Ensemble. Venet’s creative activity includes performance, composition, and commissioning new works. She holds a D.M.A. in performance and literature with a minor in pedagogy and the prestigious Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. Venet serves as the Percussive Arts Society Florida Chapter President. www.AndreaVenet.com
