"Fresh and vivacious"
– Hannah Edgar, Musical America
Violin and percussion duo Hot Second approaches music-making first through curiosity and joy and then, at some point down the line, rigor. H2 harnesses their irresistible energy to craft genre-bending concert performances and lure audiences into adventurous and playful soundworlds. Dylan Feldpausch (violin) and Rebecca McDaniel (percussion) are bold performers, generous collaborators, and beleaguered (though dedicated!) educators, who, in addition to performing as Hot Second, work with a variety of Chicago-area organizations including Apollo’s Fire, Third Coast Percussion, Mycelium New Music, Beyond This Point, and Wheaton Warrenville South High School.
Rebecca McDaniel is passionate about sharing music with others and about supporting the creativity of young musicians. Relying on music as a unifying force, Rebecca seeks to share curiosity and joy as a performer, educator, and arts administrator. She is an active chamber percussionist in the Chicago area, collaborating most frequently with violin and percussion duo Hot Second, sextet Mycelium New Music, and interdisciplinary ensemble Beyond This Point. She is also the Development Manager for the Grammy Award-winning quartet Third Coast Percussion, working closely with the ensemble in support of its performance, education, and collaborative programs. As an educator, she serves as an instructor at Wheaton Warrenville South High School and maintains a private lesson studio.
Dylan Feldpausch is a violinist and composer from Austin, Texas with degrees in violin performance from Rice University and Arizona State University. He was a Chicago Civic Orchestra Fellow from 2021 to 2023, and he is currently the Program Manager for Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra’s Side-by-Side strings program in Matteson, Illinois. Whether he’s teaching or performing, Dylan seeks to adapt musical convention to best serve whichever audience or community he’s bringing his experience to. He is a founding member of Hot Second, a genre-bending violin and percussion duo based in Chicago, and is a core member of Mycelium New Music.