Jlin and Third Coast Percussion: Vernacular at Auditorium Parco della Musica, November 14, 2026

Vernacular, the project that brings together Jlin and Third Coast Percussion, the American composer and producer and the Chicago percussion quartet, is scheduled for Saturday, November 14, 2026 at 21:00 in Sala Petrassi at Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, Viale Pietro de Coubertin 30, for Romaeuropa Festival 2026. The show lasts 100 minutes with an intermission. Tickets cost from 20 to 25 euros, according to the festival website, and the night is included in the Passepartout 2 package. They're sold on Romaeuropa's official website or through the festival box office, reachable at 06 4555 3050. You get to the Auditorium by tram 2 from the Flaminio stop on metro A, Flaminia/Reni or Apollodoro stops, or by bus 910 from Termini, which stops in front of the entrance.

Vernacular at Romaeuropa Festival: date, time and tickets

Vernacular is on Saturday, November 14, 2026 at 21:00 in Sala Petrassi at Auditorium Parco della Musica: a single Rome date, within the Romaeuropa Festival 2026 program.

Running time

The festival lists a running time of 100 minutes with an intermission. The concert therefore ends around 22:45, a time that leaves room for a late dinner or for getting back on evening public transport.

Prices

The Romaeuropa Festival website lists a price from 20 to 25 euros, depending on the section. The night is included in the festival's Passepartout 2 package, designed for those who want to follow several shows on the program.

Where to buy tickets

Tickets are sold on the official Romaeuropa Festival website, on the show's page. The festival box office answers at 06 4555 3050, also via WhatsApp, on Monday from 14:00 to 18:00 and from Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 13:00 and from 14:00 to 18:00. Romaeuropa's offices are at the Opificio, Via dei Magazzini Generali 20/a.

Vernacular, the show

Vernacular comes from the meeting between Third Coast Percussion, a Grammy Award-winning ensemble, and Jlin, composer, producer and performer and Pulitzer Prize finalist: a project that, the festival writes, crosses and relaunches 10 years of collaboration.

A dialogue born in Chicago

Romaeuropa Festival presents the show as a dialogue that could only have been born in Chicago. On one side, the precision, rigor and timbral flexibility of one of the most innovative percussion quartets on the international scene. On the other, the radical writing of Jlin, from Gary, Indiana, who starting from the legacy of Chicago footwork has built a physical, layered and polyrhythmic language, able to hold together club culture, the avant-garde and formal architecture.

Electronic and acoustic

In this new live show, the festival explains, electronics and acoustic material don't just coexist: they challenge, mirror and transform each other. The audience hears the electronic versions of the pieces performed by Jlin alongside their acoustic transcriptions entrusted to Third Coast Percussion, in a constant shift between impulse, resonance, gesture and construction.

A new commission

Completing the program is a new 92NY commission that brings all five artists together on stage for the first time: Jlin and the four percussionists. It's the moment when the two worlds stop alternating and play together.

A force field

The festival closes its presentation with a definition: more than a concert, a force field, a listening device in which rhythm, body and imagination redefine the present together. In our view it's an exact description of what happens when a piece born on a computer is rebuilt by four musicians with their hands.

Jlin, from footwork to the Pulitzer

Jlin, the stage name of Jerrilynn Patton, is an American electronic musician born on July 30, 1987 and raised in Gary, Indiana. She has been producing music since 2008 and in 2023 was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Beginnings

Jlin came to music through her parents: their favorite artists were Anita Baker, Rachelle Ferrell and Sade. She listened to footwork, the electronic dance music tied to Chicago, from a young age. She briefly attended Purdue University as a math student and, as an adult, supported herself working in a steel mill, though she has always denied that this experience influenced her music. She began composing in 2008, encouraged by her mother to look for a personal sound and, online, by figures such as DJ Rashad.

Erotic Heat and Dark Energy

The first track that made her known was Erotic Heat, which Jlin hesitated to release because it didn't sound like conventional footwork. It came out in 2011 on the compilation Bangs and Works, Vol. 2 from the Planet Mu label, dedicated to Chicago juke and footwork artists, and in 2014 it was used for a runway show by designer Rick Owens. Her first album, Dark Energy, released in 2015, was received with enthusiasm by critics and helped bring footwork to an international scene.

Black Origami and dance

In 2017 came her second album, Black Origami, with collaborations by William Basinski, Holly Herndon, Fawkes and Dope Saint Jude, included in many lists of the best records of the year. The same year Jlin composed the score for Autobiography, a work by choreographer Wayne McGregor presented at Sadler's Wells in London in October 2017. The music came out on record in 2018.

Perspective and the Pulitzer

In 2020 Jlin wrote Perspectives, commissioned by the Boulanger Initiative for Third Coast Percussion: it's the documented start of her relationship with the quartet. In 2023 she was a Pulitzer Prize for Music finalist with Perspective, which came out the same year as a mini album.

Akoma

In 2024 she released her third album, Akoma, featuring Björk, Philip Glass and the Kronos Quartet. Her entire main discography has come out on Planet Mu.

Third Coast Percussion, the Chicago quartet

Third Coast Percussion is an American percussion ensemble based in Chicago, specializing in contemporary classical music and made up of Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin and David Skidmore.

The Grammy for Steve Reich

In 2017 Third Coast Percussion won the Grammy Award in the chamber music and small ensemble category with the album Third Coast Percussion | Steve Reich, released by Cedille Records: it was the first percussion ensemble to win in a chamber music category. The album was dedicated to Reich for his 80th birthday. The quartet played music from the record at the Grammy ceremony, with saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, and later received four more nominations.

Its birth

The quartet was born in 2004 from percussionists of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, students at Northwestern University, who played in the city's public schools. Their first concerts for the public date back to summer 2005. Their first performances in small venues such as the Empty Bottle shaped the repertoire and the number of instruments brought on stage. Sean Connors joined the quartet in 2013.

Residencies and commissions

From 2013 to 2018 Third Coast Percussion was ensemble in residence at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center of the University of Notre Dame, and it's in residence at Denison University. It has commissioned works from Philip Glass, Missy Mazzoli, Gemma Peacocke, Flutronix, Jlin, Tyondai Braxton, Devonté Hynes, Georg Friedrich Haas, Donnacha Dennehy, Glenn Kotche, Christopher Cerrone and David T. Little.

Beyond the concert hall

The quartet has worked with engineers from the University of Notre Dame, architects from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, dancers from Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, musicians from the mbira tradition of the Shona of Zimbabwe, indie rock musicians and footwork producers. Its records have come out on Mode, New Focus, New Amsterdam and Cedille.

Records to listen to before Vernacular

To arrive prepared for Vernacular it's worth knowing at least part of Jlin's discography, released almost entirely on the Planet Mu label, and Third Coast Percussion's work on the American repertoire.

Jlin's albums

The three studio albums are Dark Energy (2015), Black Origami (2017) and Akoma (2024). Alongside these there are the Autobiography score (2018), the mini album Perspective (2023) and the EPs Free Fall (2015), Dark Lotus (2017) and Embryo (2021). Perspective is the title most directly tied to the Rome concert, because it comes from the work with Third Coast Percussion.

Jlin as a teacher

In 2022 Jlin also taught a course for the online music school Soundfly, on rhythm, variation and vulnerability: a detail that says a lot about how the artist thinks of her own writing, as a system to explain and pass on.

Third Coast Percussion's record

For the quartet, the starting point is the album dedicated to Steve Reich, released by Cedille Records and awarded the Grammy in 2017. The ensemble's catalog also includes records for Mode, New Focus and New Amsterdam, with many of the commissions given in recent years to contemporary composers.

A curious fact about Jlin and Third Coast Percussion: Vernacular at Auditorium Parco della Musica, November 14, 2026

The curious fact is that Jlin and Third Coast Percussion come to Rome in the same month in which the city celebrates Steve Reich's 90th birthday. The Nuova Consonanza Festival has scheduled for November 20, at the Auditorium, the concert Ars Ludi 40, dedicated precisely to the American composer's 90 years. And Third Coast Percussion owes Reich the most important recognition of its career: the 2017 Grammy, won with an album of his music, released for the composer's 80th birthday. Six days separate the two concerts, in the same Renzo Piano complex.

The second curious fact concerns Jlin's road toward art music. The track that made her known, Erotic Heat, was used in 2014 as the soundtrack for a Rick Owens fashion show. Nine years later, a work written for percussion earned her a place among the Pulitzer finalists. Few paths show better how close the world of clubs and that of concert halls have come in recent years.

The third concerns Philip Glass. In 2024 Glass took part in Akoma, Jlin's album, and among Third Coast Percussion's commissions is Glass's Aguas da Amazonia, dated 2025. The master of minimalism has passed, in the same span of years, through both sides of this stage.

Sala Petrassi at the Auditorium

Vernacular is scheduled in Sala Petrassi, one of the three concert halls of Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, named after composer Goffredo Petrassi.

Petrassi and the Auditorium

The link between Petrassi and Renzo Piano's complex goes back to the opening: when the first hall was inaugurated on April 21, 2002, the composer, by then elderly, wanted to be there and heard the first performance in the new hall of his 1931 Concert Overture. The smallest of the three halls bears his name today.

A hall for close listening

For a show like Vernacular, where the audience has to catch the differences between an electronic piece and its acoustic transcription, a hall of modest size is an advantage: the sound of the percussion arrives directly, and the musicians' gestures can be seen well from almost every seat.

The Auditorium and Romaeuropa

Romaeuropa Festival has used the Auditorium's halls for years for the music and dance on its program. For an overview of the 2026 edition there's our page on Romaeuropa Festival 2026, and among the other festival events we've covered is Chara Kotsali at Mattatoio.

Something nobody tells you about Jlin and Third Coast Percussion: Vernacular at Auditorium Parco della Musica, November 14, 2026

What's rarely said is that Vernacular is listened to as a game of comparisons, and that it's worth arriving prepared. The festival explains that the audience moves through the electronic versions of Jlin's pieces alongside Third Coast Percussion's acoustic transcriptions. Those who already know a few Jlin tracks, heard in the days before from her albums on Planet Mu, recognize the transformations and enjoy the game. Those who arrive knowing nothing still hear an excellent percussion concert, but miss half the fun.

The second little-mentioned thing is that the show has an intermission. A hundred minutes split into two parts change the way you experience the hall: you have time to step out, discuss what you've heard and return to your seat with a different ear. It's also the right moment to buy a record, if the festival has a stand.

The third concerns the price. From 20 to 25 euros for a Grammy-winning ensemble and a Pulitzer finalist, on the same night and in the same hall, is a figure that, in our view, makes Vernacular one of the best-value events of the Roman musical autumn.

My advice for Jlin and Third Coast Percussion: Vernacular at Auditorium Parco della Musica, November 14, 2026

My advice is to listen, in the days before the concert, to at least one Jlin album: Black Origami, from 2017, is the clearest entry point into her writing, Akoma, from 2024, the most recent. Then, if possible, Third Coast Percussion's record dedicated to Steve Reich, the Grammy one. With these two voices in your ear, Vernacular becomes a dialogue in which you know both speakers.

In the hall, a central seat not too close to the stage is best: percussion needs a few meters to blend, and the electronic parts come out of the hall speakers. For the evening, it's best to arrive at the Auditorium around 20:15, with time to find your way among the halls, and to decide beforehand where to have dinner: the concert ends around 22:45.

A last tip: it's a Saturday night, and tram 2 and the buses to Flaminio are crowded. Those staying in the center can walk back from Piazzale Flaminio toward Piazza del Popolo, after a stretch by tram.

How to get to Auditorium Parco della Musica

Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone is at Viale Pietro de Coubertin 30, in the Flaminio district: you get there by tram 2, Flaminia/Reni or Apollodoro stops, and by buses 910, 982 and 53. The nearest metro station is Flaminio, on line A.

Metro A and tram 2

From Flaminio station you come out on Piazzale Flaminio and take tram 2, which runs along Via Flaminia toward Piazza Mancini. You get off at Flaminia/Reni or Apollodoro and walk a few minutes toward Viale Pietro de Coubertin, crossing the Villaggio Olimpico.

Bus 910 from Termini

The 910 leaves from Piazza dei Cinquecento, in front of Termini station, and takes you to the Auditorium without changes: the most direct option for those arriving by train or staying near the station.

The other lines

The 53 connects Piazza Mancini and the center, the 982 comes from Viale XVII Olimpiade area. The 168, which comes from Tiburtina, is a weekday line: November 14 is a Saturday, and it's worth checking its service on the transport company's website.

By car

Viale Pietro de Coubertin is closed to traffic along the Auditorium stretch. The complex has an internal paid parking lot with limited spaces, and on busy nights cars spill into the streets of the Villaggio Olimpico.

Another well-known fact, yet not often mentioned

It's well known that footwork is dance music tied to Chicago's electronic scene. Less often remembered is that one of the most awarded composers of recent years came out of that scene. The compilation that launched her in 2011, Bangs and Works, Vol. 2, was dedicated precisely to Chicago juke and footwork artists, and her first album, Dark Energy, helped bring the genre to a global scene. 12 years after that compilation, a work of hers for percussion was among the Pulitzer finalists.

The second fact concerns Third Coast Percussion and popular music. The quartet, which won a Grammy in chamber music, took its first steps in small Chicago venues like the Empty Bottle, and among its collaborators lists indie rock musicians and footwork producers. It isn't a classical ensemble approaching electronic music out of curiosity: it's a quartet born in the middle of that musical city.

The third fact links Vernacular to New York. The new commission that closes the program, in which the five artists play together for the first time, is by 92NY: a detail that shows how much this collaboration is now considered a repertoire project, not a one-off meeting.

The right photo to take at Jlin and Third Coast Percussion: Vernacular at Auditorium Parco della Musica, November 14, 2026

The right photo is taken before the start, if the house staff allow it: the stage of Sala Petrassi set up with Third Coast Percussion's instruments next to Jlin's electronic station. It's the image that tells the story of the show better than any caption: two worlds ready to face each other on the same stage.

During the concert the phone goes in your pocket. Vernacular is a show of detailed listening, in which the differences between the electronic and acoustic versions of a piece come down to nuances: a lit screen distracts those playing and those listening. The final applause is the moment when a photo disturbs the least.

The third photo is taken outside: from the top of the cavea, on a November evening, Renzo Piano's three beetles lit up, with the lead cladding reflecting the lights. In mid-November darkness comes early, and when you arrive, around 20:15, the light is already right.

Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone

Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone is the complex designed by Renzo Piano in the Flaminio district, with three concert halls arranged in a fan around an open-air cavea named after Luciano Berio.

Renzo Piano's beetles

From outside the three halls look like three large beetles, clad in lead sheets on a brick base. Piano won the 1993 invited competition and worked with acoustician Jürgen Reinhold of the Müller-BBM firm in Munich and with landscape architect Franco Zagari.

The Roman villa

During construction the remains of a Roman villa emerged, built in the 3rd century BC on the site of an archaic farm from the 6th century BC. Two of the three beetles were moved westward, almost up to the Corso di Francia viaduct, and the finds are on display in a small museum set up under the cavea.

The dates

The first hall opened on April 21, 2002, and the rest of the complex was inaugurated on December 21, 2002. Since 2003 the Auditorium has been the permanent home of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and in 2020 it was named after Ennio Morricone.

Some important events that happened here in history

The ground on which the Auditorium stands has a much longer history than the complex. During construction the remains of a Roman villa from the 3rd century BC emerged, built on the site of a small 6th-century BC farm: the discovery forced Renzo Piano to redesign the project, and the finds are now on display under the cavea.

The modern story begins with a demolition. In 1936 the Augusteo, Rome's great concert hall, was torn down, and for more than 60 years the capital remained without an auditorium built specifically for symphonic music. There was long debate: in the 1950s the Borghetto Flaminio was considered, in 1960 a zoning change was reached, then everything stalled. Only in 1992 did the city council choose the Villaggio Olimpico area, and in 1993 Renzo Piano won the competition.

On April 21, 2002 the first hall opened, in the presence of Goffredo Petrassi. On December 21, 2002 the rest of the complex was inaugurated with a concert by the Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia conducted by Myung-whun Chung. Since 2003 the Auditorium has been the Accademia's permanent home, since 2006 it has hosted the Rome Film Fest, and in 2020 it was named after Ennio Morricone. In 2014 visitors to the Parco della Musica were estimated at more than 2 million.

Who has passed through Jlin and Third Coast Percussion: Vernacular at Auditorium Parco della Musica, November 14, 2026

Through Sala Petrassi passed, first of all, the composer who gives it its name: Goffredo Petrassi, present at the 2002 opening to hear his Concert Overture. Luciano Berio, who in those years led the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, gave his name to the cavea. The complex's opening concert was conducted by Myung-whun Chung, and since then the halls have hosted the Santa Cecilia orchestra and its music directors, from Antonio Pappano to Daniel Harding.

Some of the most important names in experimental music have passed through Jlin's career: William Basinski and Holly Herndon, guests on Black Origami, Wayne McGregor, who commissioned the music for Autobiography from her, and Björk, Philip Glass and the Kronos Quartet, guests on Akoma. DJ Rashad encouraged her at the start, and Rick Owens used one of her tracks on the runway.

Through Third Coast Percussion have passed Steve Reich, with the Grammy album, Ravi Coltrane, on the ceremony stage, and the composers of the commissions, from Philip Glass to Missy Mazzoli, from Devonté Hynes to Georg Friedrich Haas. On November 14, 2026 all five pass through Rome, Jlin, Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin and David Skidmore, together on the same stage.

The area around the Auditorium

The Auditorium occupies an area between Villa Glori, the Villaggio Olimpico, the Corso di Francia viaduct and Viale Maresciallo Pilsudski, in a piece of modern Rome where contemporary architecture talks with green space.

MAXXI

Near the Flaminia/Reni stop on tram 2 is MAXXI, the national museum of 21st-century arts: together with the Auditorium it forms the most important pair of contemporary buildings in the city. A Saturday afternoon at the museum before the concert is a combination consistent with the spirit of Vernacular.

Toward the Tiber

From the Auditorium you go down toward the river and the Ponte della Musica, the footbridge connecting Flaminio to the Foro Italico. Farther north, past Piazza Mancini, is Milvian Bridge, which on Saturday night is one of the busiest meeting spots in north Rome.

Toward the center

Tram 2 takes you back to Piazzale Flaminio and Piazza del Popolo, where Villa Borghese and the Tridente begin.

Where to eat before or after the concert

Inside the Auditorium there are a bar and café in the foyer and a bar-restaurant also accessible from the street: the most convenient option for those who want to eat something before 21:00.

In the neighborhood

Between the Villaggio Olimpico, Via Flaminia and Piazza Mancini there are pizzerias, trattorias and neighborhood bars, frequented more by residents than by tourists. On Saturday night it's best to book, for 19:30.

After the concert

The concert ends around 22:45. Those who prefer to eat afterward will find the widest choice in the Ponte Milvio area, a few minutes away, where places stay open late, especially on Saturday.

Accessibility, teenagers and practical information

For accessibility needs it's best to contact the Romaeuropa Festival box office in advance, at 06 4555 3050, to arrange the most suitable seat and entrance to Sala Petrassi.

With teenagers

Vernacular is a show suited to teenagers who study percussion or are interested in electronic music: the comparison between a piece produced on a computer and its acoustic performance is a rare listening lesson. 100 minutes with an intermission is a manageable length.

November in Rome

In mid-November Roman evenings are cool and often damp. The walk from the tram to the Auditorium crosses the Villaggio Olimpico: a coat and an umbrella are useful on the way out, around 23:00.

Frequently asked questions about Vernacular in Rome

When do Jlin and Third Coast Percussion play in Rome?

Jlin and Third Coast Percussion present Vernacular in Rome on Saturday, November 14, 2026 at 21:00 in Sala Petrassi at Auditorium Parco della Musica, for Romaeuropa Festival 2026. The show lasts 100 minutes with an intermission.

How much are tickets for Vernacular?

Tickets for Vernacular at Romaeuropa Festival cost from 20 to 25 euros, according to the festival's official website. The night is included in the Passepartout 2 package. The box office answers at 06 4555 3050.

Who is Jlin?

Jlin, the stage name of Jerrilynn Patton, is an American electronic composer and producer born in 1987 and raised in Gary, Indiana. Starting from Chicago footwork, she has released Dark Energy, Black Origami and Akoma, and was a Pulitzer Prize for Music finalist in 2023.

Who are Third Coast Percussion?

Third Coast Percussion is a Chicago percussion quartet made up of Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin and David Skidmore. In 2017 it won a Grammy with an album dedicated to Steve Reich, the first percussion ensemble awarded in a chamber music category.

What do you hear in Vernacular?

In Vernacular you hear Jlin's pieces in their electronic versions, performed by the artist, alongside Third Coast Percussion's acoustic transcriptions. The program closes with a new 92NY commission that brings all five artists together on stage for the first time.

How do you get to Sala Petrassi at the Auditorium?

Sala Petrassi is one of the halls of Auditorium Parco della Musica, at Viale Pietro de Coubertin 30. You get there by tram 2 from the Flaminio stop on metro A, Flaminia/Reni or Apollodoro stops, or by bus 910 from Termini.

My final advice on Vernacular

Vernacular is, in our view, one of the most interesting events of Romaeuropa Festival 2026: an artist born in the clubs of Chicago and a quartet awarded in chamber music, 10 years of work together, an intimate hall and a modest price. It's worth listening first to Black Origami and Third Coast Percussion's Reich record, booking a central seat, arriving by tram 2 and having dinner afterward in Ponte Milvio.

Article written by the editorial team of Tour Leader Pro, contact them for Private/Corporate/V.I.P. Tours and Experiences.

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