About this Artist

“What mesmerising creativity! A tour-de-force of subtle and forceful artistry … The members of Tambuco are chameleons on dozens of instruments.” 
-Gramophone Magazine (UK)

With 25 years of international concerts and recordings of an original repertoire, Tambuco Percussion Ensemble has enjoyed an acclaimed career, establishing itself among the finest percussion quartets today. Audiences throughout the world have appreciated Tambuco’s musicianship in programs devoted to showcasing a vast universe of percussion music.

Four time GRAMMY Nominees including Best Classical Album and Best Chamber Ensemble, Tambuco, was founded in 1993 by four distinguished musicians and is ranked among the finest and most innovative in the world. Refusing to be tied down to one style, their repertoire ranges from structuralist percussion music to a wide range of ethnic drum music and avante-garde sound interpretation. The one constant is their desire for perfection and unique, virtuoso performance.

The musicians of Tambuco use all conceivable and inconceivable means to realize their musical ideas. Tambuco has been awarded distinctions and prizes from cultural organizations in Mexico and abroad, as recently, the prestigious Japan Foundation Award for the Arts and Culture, Japan’s most important artistic distinction. Tambuco has offered concerts on six continents. They have performed in the USA (Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center), Tokyo (Ino Hall), London (Barbican Centre), Paris and Montpellier (Festival de Radio France), Germany (Berliner Festspiele), Australia (Queensland Music Festival) plus concerts in Canada, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia Cuba, Colombia, Brasil, Uruguay, Argentina, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia, as well as practically all of Mexico’s concert halls.

One of Tambuco’s most important activities is collaboration. As solo ensemble, Tambuco has performed and recorded with musicians, ensembles and orchestras such as Keiko Abe, Stewart Copeland, Eduardo Mata, Valerie Naranjo, Nanae Yoshimura, Kifu Mitsuhashi, Kronos Quartet,The Michael Nyman Band, Orchestre Philharmonique de Montpellier, Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México, Orquesta Sinfónica de Guanajuato, La Camerata, Orchestra de Catania and Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, amongst many, many others. In 2015, they both recorded percussion for the theme music of James Bond: Spectre and appeared in the opening sequence of the film.

To date, Tambuco has recorded eight CDs. Its most recent album, Carlos Chavez Complete Chamber Music, received three GRAMMY nominations for Best Classical Album, Best Small Chamber Ensemble and Best Classical Latin Album. Its Album “Rítmicas,” was selected by Audiophile Audition as one of the best CDs of the year. Tambuco recorded also with Kronos Quartet on their Grammy-nominated album “Nuevo.”