Glenn Kotche
Chicago-based drummer and composer Glenn Kotche has been the drummer of the groundbreaking rock band Wilco since 2001. With Wilco, he has toured extensively internationally and recorded eight studio albums - garnering a Grammy Award and 5 Grammy nominations along the way. He is also a long-time member of the experimental duo, On Fillmore with bassist Darin Gray and the trio, Loose Fur along with Jim O’Rourke and Jeff Tweedy. As a composer, he has been commissioned by renowned ensembles and organizations including Kronos Quartet, The Silk Road Ensemble, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Eighth Blackbird, So Percussion, Third Coast Percussion, Carnegie Hall, Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, Norway’s 1B1 Orchestra, the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, National Sawdust and Roomful of Teeth among others. Kotche has played on over 90 recordings by diverse artists such as First Aid Kit, Iron and Wine, KD Lang, Neko Case, Laura Viers, Neil Finn, Andrew Bird, William Tyler, Radiohead’s Phillip Selway and Ed O’Brien, Low, Mavis Staples and Beck. Kotche has also recorded five solo albums including Mobile (Nonesuch, Warner Music), Adventureland (Cantaloupe) and Sticks Skins Metal and Stone (National Sawdust Tracks). He regularly performs solo percussion shows and has performed in venues as diverse as The Whitney Museum, Celebrate Brooklyn, The Menil Collection, the Van Abbemuseum and The Old Town School of Folk Music. Glenn has also taken the drumset into non-traditional collaborative settings with the likes of chef Rick Bayless, WNYC’s Radiolab, National Sawdust’s The Colorado and recently with choreographer Danielle Agami and actor Jon Hamm in the production, Fishing, as well as with Agami’s company Ate/9 for the piece, Calling Glenn. In 2013, Kotche commissioned the Pulitzer Prize winning composer John Luther Adams resulting in percussion solo tour de force titled Ilimaq (Cantaloupe). Glenn has been a Gray Center Fellow at the University of Chicago and served on the Board of Advisors for the Percussive Arts Society. He has contributed to several books and publications and his inventive book, A Beat A Week, is published by Alfred Music. Glenn holds workshops and residencies at universities, museums and other institutions and has also created several sound installations, including Earth Drums at New York’s Art Park and Spy On Wall at MASSMoCA. He resides in Chicago with his wife Miiri, and their two children.
Chicago-based drummer and composer Glenn Kotche has been the drummer of the groundbreaking rock band Wilco since 2001. With Wilco, he has toured extensively internationally and recorded eight studio albums - garnering a Grammy Award and 5 Grammy nominations along the way. He is also a long-time member of the experimental duo, On Fillmore with bassist Darin Gray and the trio, Loose Fur along with Jim O’Rourke and Jeff Tweedy. As a composer, he has been commissioned by renowned ensembles and organizations including Kronos Quartet, The Silk Road Ensemble, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Eighth Blackbird, So Percussion, Third Coast Percussion, Carnegie Hall, Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, Norway’s 1B1 Orchestra, the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, National Sawdust and Roomful of Teeth among others. Kotche has played on over 90 recordings by diverse artists such as First Aid Kit, Iron and Wine, KD Lang, Neko Case, Laura Viers, Neil Finn, Andrew Bird, William Tyler, Radiohead’s Phillip Selway and Ed O’Brien, Low, Mavis Staples and Beck. Kotche has also recorded five solo albums including Mobile (Nonesuch, Warner Music), Adventureland (Cantaloupe) and Sticks Skins Metal and Stone (National Sawdust Tracks). He regularly performs solo percussion shows and has performed in venues as diverse as The Whitney Museum, Celebrate Brooklyn, The Menil Collection, the Van Abbemuseum and The Old Town School of Folk Music. Glenn has also taken the drumset into non-traditional collaborative settings with the likes of chef Rick Bayless, WNYC’s Radiolab, National Sawdust’s The Colorado and recently with choreographer Danielle Agami and actor Jon Hamm in the production, Fishing, as well as with Agami’s company Ate/9 for the piece, Calling Glenn. In 2013, Kotche commissioned the Pulitzer Prize winning composer John Luther Adams resulting in percussion solo tour de force titled Ilimaq (Cantaloupe). Glenn has been a Gray Center Fellow at the University of Chicago and served on the Board of Advisors for the Percussive Arts Society. He has contributed to several books and publications and his inventive book, A Beat A Week, is published by Alfred Music. Glenn holds workshops and residencies at universities, museums and other institutions and has also created several sound installations, including Earth Drums at New York’s Art Park and Spy On Wall at MASSMoCA. He resides in Chicago with his wife Miiri, and their two children.
