About Troika
Empowered and passionate, Troika is a New York City and Seattle based percussion trio that began with the convergence of personal relationships weaving a web of academic and ensemble experience in 2016.
Troika began its collaboration with a few common goals: to explore, share, and be advocates for living composers, expand the capabilities of percussion within nature and technology, and create a space for womxn and gender non-conforming individuals within chamber percussion and the contemporary music community.
Since 2016, Troika has performed as a guest ensemble at the Pittsburgh Center for the Art’s Marshall Gallery, the Greenpoint Gallery, Duquesne University, Truman University, and the Sō Percussion Summer Institute at Princeton University. Valuing partnership and education, Troika has committed to education alongside universities and public schools through coachings, masterclasses, improvised performances, and more across the country through programs such as the Make Music Alliance.
While the vast majority of the 2020-2021 season was directly impacted by COVID-19, Troika continues to believe and push for the creation of art, and the amplification of voices, especially in marginalized communities. We are looking forward to, and have enjoyed the opportunity to focus on commissioning, education, and recording. Troika has released remote performances of ensemble repertoire alongside a collaborative performance with Sō Percussion. Troika is commissioning new works from composers including Raquel Acevedo Klein, Aaron Locklear, and Phong Tran, rescheduling performances across the Southeast and Pacific Northwest of the United States, reimagining and developing our energy conscious outdoor concert programming, and collaborating with bandoneon performer, Alejandro Pinzón.
Troika is made up of Paulina Michels, Kasey Blezinger, and Shelby Blezinger-McCay.
Kasey Blezinger
Kasey Blezinger is a contemporary percussionist and drummer based out of Brooklyn, New York. Using a rich background in classical percussion, Kasey looks to use the medium away from the strict rigidity of traditional and academic spaces, and expand its capabilities through theatrical and avant-garde exploration and performance practice.
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Paulina Michels
Paulina Michels is a percussionist currently residing in the Pacific Northwest. Though her background is rooted in classical music, her curiosity and love of contemporary chamber music has driven her to find ways of combining improvisation and experimental ideas with new compositions.
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Shelby Blezinger-McCay
Shelby Blezinger-McCay is a New York City-based passionate soloist, chamber player, educator, and experimental percussionist who desires to explore the vast art of percussion and music within today’s communities and cultures.
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