Square One for Marimba Solo - 7 Min.; 5-Oktav-Marimba, 4 mallets;
Youtube-Video
Square One is a challenging marimba solo that showcases a performer’s virtuosity and endurance. The piece is built upon a singular rhythmic pattern; this opens the piece and reoccurs throughout the duration of the work in various forms, as if the performer and the audience are constantly being knocked back to square one.
The piece is based on the following words:
Have I made any progress in my journey at all?
If I look back, how far have I actually walked
Or have I always been circling
Tracing the edges and corners of square one
Joey Eng
Joey Eng (b. 2001) is an Australian percussionist, composer, producer and educator. As a soloist, Joey was a winner of the 2022 Warana Concerto Competition, a semi-finalist in the 2020 Warana Concerto Competition, a finalist for the 2022 Richard Gill Award, and a finalist in both the inaugural 2019 Marimbafest solo marimba competition and the 2021 Marimbafest solo marimba competition, in which he placed 2nd. A multi-skilled percussionist and collaborator, he has performed with many orchestras across Australia including the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, Perth Symphony Orchestra, Australian Baroque, Australian Youth Orchestra, and the Vienna Pops Orchestra.
As a composer, Joey was a finalist in both the 2020 and 2021 WAAPA Symphony Orchestra Composition Competitions and has had multiple new works premiered by the Defying Gravity percussion ensemble. Joey also regularly premieres new orchestral works, solo and chamber percussion pieces through his Youtube channel - works that have since been performed by percussionists around the world. As a composer-performer, he has scored and performed in live theatre productions including ‘The Hope Fault’ and Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’. Joey is also an adept arranger, and his arrangements of contemporary songs have been performed by the Perth Symphony Orchestra, the WAAPA Symphony Orchestra and Defying Gravity.
Joey completed his Bachelor of Music from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts under the tutelage of Tim White OAM, receiving the 2022 WAAPA Medal as the top graduate of the entire school. Joey has been awarded an ECU Vice Chancellor’s Award, an ECU WAAPA Scholarship, a 2022 Peter Hurford Award, the 2022 Luigi Paolino Award, and the 2021 Norman Archibald Percussion Scholarship.
Joey is endorsed by Marimba One (USA).
