Bachovich Music Publications
Connecting you to the creativity of the world's top percussionists
Composers, Arrangers, & Recording Artists
Daniel Adams
Daniel Adams (b. 1956, Miami, FL) is a Professor of Music at Texas Southern University in Houston. Adams holds a Doctor of Musical Arts (1985) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a Master of Music from the University of Miami (1981) and a Bachelor of Music from Louisiana State University (1978). Adams currently serves as a member of the Percussive Arts Society Composition Committee and on the Board of Directors of the Houston Composers Alliance and the Texas Faculty Association. Adams is the composer of numerous published musical compositions and the author of several articles and reviews on various topics related to Twentieth Century percussion music, musical pedagogy, and the music of Texas. His book entitled The Solo Snare Drum was published in 2000. He is also the author of two entries published in 2009 in the Oxford Encyclopedia of African-American History 1896 to the Present. Adams has served as a panelist and lecturer nationally and internationally, on topics ranging from music composition pedagogy to faculty governance. In 2004 he appeared as an invited guest conductor for the premiere of a commissioned work at the Teatro Nancional in San Jose, Costa Rica. His music has been performed throughout the United States, and in Spain, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Turkey, Argentina, Canada, and South Korea. His music is recorded on Capstone Records, Ravello Records, and Summit Records.
Keith Aleo
Keith Aleo has a diverse and unique career as an educator, performer and administrator. As an educator, he is on the percussion faculty at the Boston Conservatory and, since 1992, has served as the Director of Percussion at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Interlochen, Michigan. Since 1998 he has served on the successful New World Symphony percussion audition committee. As an administrator, he is the Director of Education and Orchestral Activities at the Avedis Zildjian Company, a position he has held since 2003.
As a performer, Mr. Aleo has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and, in 2004, the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He was a member of the percussion section of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra from 1989-2003, and a member of the percussion faculty at the University of Miami from 1994-2003.
Mr. Aleo has given master classes and workshops on percussion instruments at numerous universities conventions. Highlights have included the Percussive Arts Society State and International Conventions, PAS Journees de la Percussion in Paris France, the PAS Italian Percussion Festival in Fermo Italy and multiple Music Education Conferences.
Mr. Aleo's book, Advanced Etudes for Snare Drum, published by HoneyRock Publishing Inc, has received critical acclaim. Mr. Aleo was also contributing editor for the Encyclopedia of Percussion Instruments, published by Garland Publishing and contributed to the Advanced Duets for Snare Drum, also released by HoneyRock Publishing Inc.
He was a member of the Percussive Arts Society's Board of Directors and served on the Board of Overseer's at the New England Conservatory from 2004 – 2010. His awards include Chapter President of the Year for his work as president of the Florida Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society.
Pablo Bagilet
Pablo Emanuel Bagilet was born in Santa Fe, Argentina. He began his studies in percussion at Escuela de Música 9901 in Santa Fe with Roberto Benítez, Miguel Demartini, and Marcelo Heer. He also studied privately with Guillermo Gervasoni and Arturo Vergara, and participated in an orchestral percussion training program with the Orquesta Académica del Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires led by the percussionists Arturo Vergara, Ernesto Ringer, Juan Ringer, José Miste, and Angel Frette. Pablo pursued further studies in the USA receiving his Bachelors and Master degrees in Percussion Performance from the University of Georgia (UGA) under the guidance of Dr. Thomas McCutchen and Dr. Arvin Scott.
As an orchestral percussionist, Pablo has held core positions for several orchestras in Argentina including Orquesta Sinfónica de Santa Fe, Orquesta Académica del Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires, Orquesta de Cámara de la Universidad Nacional del Litoral, and Orquesta Sinfónica de Entre Ríos. Furthermore, Pablo has been contracted musician with Filarmónica de Buenos Aires and Sinfónica de Rosario in Argentina, and Augusta Symphony in the USA. Pablo has worked under conductors such as Kurt Masur, Robert Spano, Enrique Ricci, Carlos Cuesta, Donald Portnoy, and Fred Mills, among others.
An artist of international experience, Pablo has performed in Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, France, and the United States. His experiences include many different musical genres, including orchestral, solo, chamber, contemporary, jazz, Latin, and steel drums. He has also performed as a percussionist on several Broadway show musicals, such as Legally Blonde, A Chorus Line, The Young Frankenstein, South Pacific, and White Christmas.
Pablo has served as faculty of the Escuela de Música 9901 (Santa Fe, Argentina,) Emmanuel College (Georgia, USA,) and UGA Community Music School. As a Teacher Assistant, Pablo has taught for the percussion studio of both, the University of Georgia and Michigan State University. Pablo has been guest artist and clinician at the VIII International Percussion Festival in Patagonia and the Gilardo Gilardi Conservatory in La Plata, Argentina, the 2008 MSU Day of Percussion, Hillsdale College, and Missouri Southern State University. He has also been one of the juries of the 2010 Fundación Cultural Patagonia Composition Competition for vibraphone and piano scores.
In 2000, Pablo won first prize in percussion at the Mozarteum Santa Fe and, in 2003, he was the winner of the University of Georgia Concerto Competition. Pablo has also received many awards, assistantships, fellowships, and scholarships, including an award for Cultural Excellence from the Subsecretaria de la Nación Argentina (2001), the Adora Mills Scholarship (2005-2006), and MSU Dissertation Completion Fellowship (2010-11).
As a composer, Pablo has contributed to the vibraphone repertoire with his original works and arrangements. For instance, Argentinean Suite for Solo Vibraphone has been published by Bachovich Music Publications.
Currently, Pablo is a Doctoral Candidate in Percussion at Michigan State University, where he studies with Prof. Gwendolyn Burgett Thrasher and Dr. Jon Weber. Pablo is also faculty at the MSU Community Music School, Principal Percussionist of Midland Symphony Orchestra, and freelance with Jackson and Lansing Symphony Orchestras.
Patrick Bailey
Patrick Bailey, from Newtown, PA, has been playing percussion since 1999, starting in the Pennsbury School District in Fairless Hills, PA. While in the district he toured with the acclaimed Pennsbury Concert Jazz Band, playing in the Next Generation Jazz Festival in California, and touring through Hong Kong, China. He also toured Hong Kong with the award winning Pennsbury Marching Band, playing at halftime for the Rugby Sevens tournament in March of 2008, as well as playing in Hong Kong Disney. During this time Patrick was also involved with the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and the Youth Orchestra of Bucks County. He toured through Germany and the Czech Republic with the Youth Orchestra of Bucks County, performing in Prague and Hamburg at local music festivals, including performing Dvorak’s 9th Symphony in Karlovy-Vary (Karlsbad), a well known vacation spot for the natively Czech composer. Patrick has been principal timpanist in the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra for the 4 years he has been with the orchestra, playing in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center 6 times performing works such as Brahms’ First Symphony, Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony among other pieces.
In the Jazz Idiom, Patrick has performed many times with his family trio, The Bailey Trio, playing private parties and local shows for a number of years. He has also performed with the likes of Dave Stahl, Terrell Stafford, Chris Hanning, and Carl Allen. At Temple University, where he currently is in the music education department, Patrick has performed with and written extensively for the marching band and the Temple University Percussion Ensemble. The percussion ensemble recently asked him to write a piece for their performance in April of 2008. He conducted his piece “Journeys” at the premier, and it was very, very well received. Patrick has also been on tour with the Drum Corps International’s Boston Crusaders. The front ensemble competed in “Individual and Ensemble” competition and won, beating ensembles from other DCI Corps. Patrick has been privileged to get to perform at so many great venues and with so many fantastic musicians, and sincerely looks forward to many more years of performing in the Philadelphia area and hopefully beyond!
Andrew Beall
"Affirmation shocked the audience – they were on their feet right after the performance!
Da Ji Yuan News
At Lincoln Center in 2008, Avery Fisher Hall became home for the world premiere of composer/percussionist Andrew Beall’s second major orchestral work: Affirmation, concerto for solo percussion and orchestra. Among others, the Concert Band arrangement has been performed by the U.S. Navy Band in Washington D.C. In 2004, Mr. Beall performed the world premiere of his Testament: Symphony for Marimba and Orchestra with the Tower Philharmonic, marking as the first marimba symphony in history ever to be composed or performed. Since the premiere, he has reduced the opus to a shorter Concerto, which has had performances with the Aspen Philharmonic and the Columbus Philharmonic.
A multi-faceted performer, composer, educator, and entrepreneur, Mr. Beall sustains balance between the Symphonic, Broadway, Rock, and Marching arenas, as well as being the President of the Percussive Arts Society New York Chapter. As a freelance percussionist, he has performed on Broadway in The Lion King and Les Miserables, In The Heights,, Carnegie Hall with the Manhattan Pops Orchestra, and the Latin Grammy’s with artists such as Santana, Gloria Estefan, Andy Garcia, Patty LaBelle, Kenny G, John Legend, Jon Secada, and the Miami Sound Machine. Mr. Beall has appeared as a soloist around the world, including 15 recitals and 8 concerto performances. In 2001, he won the D.C.I. Solo Marimba Competition, D.C.I. Percussion Ensemble Competition (with the Phantom Regiment drum & bugle corps), and the P.A.S.I.C. College Marimba Competition. He has placed 1st in concerto competitions at The Ohio State University and New York University, and 2nd at the MTNA National Young Artist Performer’s Competition. Mr. Beall spent a year as a cast member and snare drum soloist in the Australian stage spectacular, Rhythm of the Night. He has performed with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, American Brass Quintet, Illinois Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Percussion Ensemble, Greenwich Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Garden State Philharmonic, Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, Harmonie Symphony Orchestra, Gotham City Orchestra, Westchester Chamber Orchestra, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, and has toured Mexico with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas. In November 2007, Mr. Beall was appointed Principal Timpanist/Percussionist of the Erato Chamber Orchestra of Chicago. Additionally, he tours as drummer for the New York-based rock sextet, Cordis and is a member of NY’s premiere outreach quartet, Percussion People and touring percussion trio, Axiom Percussion Group.
As a composer, Mr. Beall’s works have been performed at the top concert halls, conservatories, and music festivals around the world. In October ‘08, the Erato Chamber Orchestra premiered his Song of ‘Almah for marimba, soprano, and string orchestra in downtown Chicago. As a guest artist and clinician, he has presented concerts and workshops across the country, many featuring a portrait of his compositions. In the field of marching percussion, he has taught drum and bugle corps such as the Boston Crusaders, Santa Clara Vanguard, and Carolina Crown (having arranged the 2003 and 2009 winning D.C.I. percussion ensembles). He has also written and designed indoor percussion shows for Odyssey Percussion Theater and Surround Sound. Most recently, he was commissioned by the US Air Force Band to write a work for solo percussion and brass ensemble. Mr. Beall received his B.M. from the Manhattan School of Music, his M.A. from New York University, and was a Charles Owen Memorial Fellowship winner at the Aspen Music Festival. He is pleased to frequent his alma mater, Manhattan School of Music, to teach privately at their Pre-College. Mr. Beall’s debut studio CD, Deliverance, was released on BMP Records and received critical acclaim from PAS News. He is the President of two companies: Bachovich Music Publications and Beall Percussion Specialties, and is an endorsing artist/clinician for Innovative Percussion, Pearl Drum Corporation, Sabian Cymbals, and Evans Drumheads . For more information, please visit www.andrewbeall.com.
Steven Beall
Like Charles Ives, Steven Beall has enjoyed a successful career as an insurance executive, along with his real love, musical composition. His compositions feature the classical guitar in solo, duo and chamber music settings.
Mr. Beall is a self-taught musician with no formal musical education. His most memorable live performances were in in 1979 when he played mandolin in a chamber group that performed a George Crumb composition, Ancient Voices of Children, and in 1980 when he played guitar in a 'mariachi' orchestra with Dave Brubeck on piano, in Brubeck's Christmas choral pageant, La Fiesta de la Posada.
Steven Beall has composed a number of works for guitar, including Thornbirds, Suite in 3 Flights for Solo Guitar (1980), Calico Dreams for Marimba and Guitar (2000), 24 Fugal Misadventures for Two Guitars (2003), and Rhapsody on a Dream for Guitar and Strings (2003). A partial world premiere of Calico Dreams (1st,2nd,3rd of 5 mvts.) was given in New York City in May 2005 by Andrew Beall, marimba and Evan Drummond, guitar.
Mr. Beall achieved a life-long dream when he edited and published Andrew Beall's Testament: Symphony for Marimba and Orchestra (2004) and Concerto for Marimba & Orchestra (2005). Leaning the elements of orchestration and musical notation, and developing the skills to interpret, edit and format a symphonic score for the conductor and all musicians of the orchestra – this was a transcendent experience. This collaboration between Steven Beall and his nephew Andrew Beall was the inspiration to launch a new publishing company, Bachovich Music Publications.
Steven Beall's first (and currently only) published composition is Moondance, the 3rd movement of Calico Dreams for Marimba and Guitar. He acknowledges the requests that have been made through BMP for the completed score of the entire 5-movement suite, and he plans to publish the remaining movements in the near future.
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Benjamin Britten
Britten was born, by happy coincidence, on St. Cecilia's Day, at the family home in Lowestoft, Suffolk, England. His father was a dentist. He was the youngest of four children, with a brother, Robert (1907), and two sisters, Barbara (1902) and Beth (1909). He was educated locally, and studied, first, piano, and then, later, viola, from private teachers.
He began to compose as early as 1919, and after about 1922, composed steadily until his death. At a concert in 1927, conducted by composer Frank Bridge, he met Bridge, later showed him several of his compositions, and ultimately Bridge took him on as a private pupil. After two years at Gresham's School in Holt, Norfolk, he entered the Royal College of Music in London (1930) where he studied composition with John Ireland and piano with Arthur Benjamin. During his stay at the RCM he won several prizes for his compositions.
He completed a choral work, A Boy was Born, in 1933; at a rehearsal for a broadcast performance of the work by the BBC Singers, he met tenor Peter Pears, the beginning of a lifelong personal and professional relationship. (Many of Britten's solo songs, choral and operatic works feature the tenor voice, and Pears was the designated soloist at many of their premieres.)
From about 1935 until the beginning of World War II, Britten did a great deal of composing for the GPO Film Unit, for BBC Radio, and for small, usually left-wing, theater groups in London. During this period he met and worked frequently with the poet W. H. Auden who provided texts for numerous songs as well as complete scripts for which Britten provided incidental music.
In the spring of 1939, Britten and Pears sailed for North America, eventually settling in Amityville, Long Island, NY, where they lived with Dr. and Mrs. Wm. Mayer and their family. In 1940 he worked with Auden on what would become his first opera, actually an operetta for high schools called Paul Bunyan, based on traditional American folk characters. However, on a trip to California in 1941, he read an article by E. M. Forster on the English poet George Crabbe, planting the seed for what would eventually be Britten's first opera, Peter Grimes. In 1942, Serge Koussevitzky became interested in Britten's music and performed the Sinfonia da Requiem with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Out of this association came the commission from the Koussevitzky Foundation (in memory of Koussevitzky's late wife Natalie) for the new opera, based on Crabbe's work The Borough. Britten and Pears worked on the scenario during their return voyage to England in March, 1942.
During the early 40s, Britten produced a number of works, outstanding among them the Hymn to St. Cecilia, A Ceremony of Carols, Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Serenade (for tenor, horn, and strings), Rejoice in the Lamb, and the Festival Te Deum. Peter Grimes, with a libretto by Montagu Slater, was complete in 1945 and had its premiere on June 7 of that year by the Sadler's Wells Opera Company. (Slightly over a year later, the work had its American premiere at the Boston Symphony's summer home at Tanglewood, under the baton of Leonard Bernstein.)
Other operas appeared regularly in the ensuing years: The Rape of Lucretia (1946), Albert Herring (1947), The Little Sweep (1949), Billy Budd (1951) Gloriana (1953), The Turn of the Screw (1954), Noye's Fludde ((1957), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960) Curlew River (1964), The Burning Fiery Furnace (1966), The Prodigal Son (1968) Owen Wingrave (1970) [for television], and finally Death in Venice (1973)
James Campbell
James Campbell has received worldwide recognition as a performer, pedagogue and author, and is a respected figure in the development of the contemporary percussion ensemble. He has toured extensively throughout North, South, and Central America, Europe, and Asia. Currently Provost's Distinguished Service Professor of Music and Director of Percussion Studies at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, he also holds the positions of Principal Percussionist with the Lexington Philharmonic, drummer with the Kentucky Jazz Repertory Orchestra, and Past-President of the Percussive Arts Society.
Well known for his long past association with the internationally renowned Rosemont Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps, Jim has served as their principal instructor, arranger, and Program Coordinator and was named to the Drum Corps International Hall of Fame in 2008. He was Percussion Director for the McDonald's All-American High School Band and has performed at the International Society of Music Education World Conference, International Patagonia Percussion Festival, Journèes de la Percussion, PercuSonidos Percussion Festival, Australian Percussion Eisteddfod, MENC National In-Service Conference, Midwest Band & Orchestra Clinic, MusicFest Canada, All-Japan Band Clinic, Music for All World Percussion Symposium, state MEA conventions across the country, and frequently appears as an artist at the Percussive Arts Society International Conventions (PASIC).
Among his works for concert and marching percussion, Jim has published with Hal Leonard Publishing, C.L. Barnhouse Co., C. Alan Publications, Innovative Percussion, Row-Loff Productions, Meredith Music and Alfred Publications with whom he serves as Percussion Team Author for the Expressions Music Curriculum. Jim is an endorsee for Innovative Percussion, Evans Drumheads, Grover Pro Percussion and is a member of the Latin Percussion Educational Advisory Board. He is a clinician for the Avedis Zildjian Cymbal Company and a Performing Artist for Yamaha Corporation of America, Band & Orchestra Division.
Yves Carlin
Born in 1966,Yves Carlin starts to study guitar at the age of 8 and study drumming at the age of 9 at the academy of La Louvière and Morlanwelz.
He followed his studies at the Royal Conservatory of Musique of Mons where he got a Superior degree in guitar and drums and a first prize in chamber music.
He has been a percussionist for the Symphonic Orchestra of RTBF from 1985 until 1991.With this orchestra, he got the opportunity to play in Charleston, North Carolina and in Germany and to participate into several TV shows and record.
He has also worked for the National Orchestra of Belgium and for the Chamber Music Orchestra of Wallonie.
His resume gives him the opportunity to play with Odair and Sergio Assad, Jean-Felix Lalanne, Enrico Macias, Jean Vallée, Jeanne Manson, Sandra Kim and many others.
He has also worked under the direction of Léo Brouwer.
Yves Carlin teaches classic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar and the drums.
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Erik Charlston
Jazz vibraphonist Erik Charlston, a native of Chicago, has a diverse career centered in New York, where he currently leads his JazzBrasil sextet. Charlston has also performed and recorded with Wynton Marsalis, Fred Hersch, Steve Coleman, James Carter, Sam Rivers, Dave Brubeck, and Orlando Puntilla Rios, among others. He has performed with Sting, Billy Joel and Elton John at Carnegie Hall, and with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, he played with Metallica at Madison Square Garden. Alongside Bill Frisell, Gil Goldstein, Marty Ehrlich and Greg Cohen, he has interpreted the music of the classic film composer Bernard Herrmann in London with the BBC Symphony, in France with the Orchestre National de Lyon and most recently with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
In New York, Erik performs regularly with the New York Philharmonic, with Encores at City Center, and on film soundtracks from Disney’s “Aladdin” to the recent ”Julie and Julia” and Coen brothers’ “True Grit.” A frequent performer on Broadway in “Hair” and “The Lion King,” he has also played extensively with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, as well as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Moscow’s Moiseyev Dance Company, the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra and as soloist on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion.” Recording credits include radio, television, films, and record labels such as Sony, Gramavision, Telarc, EMI, Newport Classics, Nonesuch, and French Antilles. Outside New York, he has performed chamber music throughout Europe and Japan, and with the New York Philharmonic, has toured extensively throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia. He is currently co-chair of the percussion department at the Manhattan School of Music.
Fred Cohen
Fred Cohen’s compositions have been hailed for their originality, intensity, and sonic beauty. He began his musical career as a chorister with the San Francisco Boys Chorus, performing with such organizations as the San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Symphony. Following undergraduate studies at the University California, Santa Cruz, Cohen worked as a conductor with the Fundacion del Estado para la Orquesta National Juvenil (Venezuela), after which he earned his doctoral degree in composition at Cornell University. He has been a member of the music faculty at the University of Richmond (Virginia), Montclair State University (New Jersey), and the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University.
Cohen’s output is extremely varied, from a Piano Concerto written in honor of a gift of 67 Steinway pianos to the Schwob School, to Curls of Motion for trumpet and wind ensemble, premiered by Phil Smith, Principal Trumpet of the New York Philharmonic. He has been commissioned by the Shanghai String Quartet, the Borromeo String Quartet, the Richmond Symphony, and many other musicians and ensembles. Commissions have come from Chamber Music America, National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, the New Jersey and the Virginia Council for the Arts, and many others. His music is published by Subito Music Publications and American Composers Edition, among others. Cohen is Professor of Music at the Schwob School of Music, Columbus State University.
Ming-ching Chiu
The composer, Ming-ching Chiu, is a currently a DMA student in composition at University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. He earned his bachelor's degree in percussion performance from Catholic Fu-jen University, where he was active in wind bands and orchestras. He began his formal study of composition as a senior in 2003. Following graduation he taught in Taipei at primary and high schools. He has also served as composer and program coordinator of the Taipei Yueh-fu Drum and Bugle Corps and as composer and music arranger for the Symphony Ochestra of the Taiwan Defense Ministry.
Axel Clarke
Axel Clarke has been active as a performer and instructor in the Los Angeles are for 13 years. He holds BA and MA degrees in Percussion performance from California State University, Long Beach. As an educator he has been a member of the studio faculty at Long Beach State since 2001 and also directs the percussion program at the prestigious Orange County High School of the Arts. His performance and recording credits include work with the Long Beach Symphony, Long Beach Ballet, South Coast Symphony, Luis Conte, Ray Holman, Michael Spiro, CK Ladzepko, Sara Haze, Skanic, Chelsea Lena, The Kim Richmond Jazz Orchestra, The Robin Cox Ensemble, DMP, Next Exit, Coto Normal, Mehdi, and Stephen Hartke. He can also be heard in numerous multi-media exhibits in museums across the country and in documentaries for Discovery and Animal Planet. He is a member of the IronWorks Percussion Duo with fellow Long Beach State faculty member Dr. Dave Gerhart. As a composer he has studied with Dr. Bruce Miller, Dr. Martin Hermann, and Dr. Robin Cox and his works have been performed at universities and performing arts schools throughout the U.S.
Marc Damoulakis
Marc Damoulakis, born in Massachusetts, is currently a member of the percussion section of the Cleveland Orchestra. Prior to joining the Cleveland Orchestra in 2006, Mr. Damoulakis performed regularly with the New York Philharmonic for three seasons, also accompanying them on their national and international tours. He has held tenure positions as principal timpanist of the Long Island Philharmonic, assistant principal percussion of the Harrisburg Symphony and percussionist in the Sun Valley Summer Symphony. Marc has also played with the Atlanta Symphony, Houston Symphony, Kirov Orchestra, Canadian Brass, and Florida West Coast Symphony.
As a chamber musician, he performed a joint recital of piano/percussion music with Emanuel Ax at Lincoln Center. He was also a founding member of the Time Table Percussion Quartet based in NYC.
He has taught master classes and clinics nationally, traveling to the Manhattan School of Music, Boston Conservatory, Cleveland Institute of Music, University of Miami, and DePaul University, and remains committed to teaching students in his private studio in Cleveland.
As a student, he participated in the Tanglewood Music Center, Spoleto Festival Italy and the Pacific Music Festival. He is an alumnus of the New World Symphony, where he studied with music director Michael Tilson Thomas. Marc received a bachelor’s degree in Music from Manhattan School of Music, studying with Chris Lamb, Duncan Patton, and James Preiss.
Charlie Descarfino
Percussionist/Drummer/Composer
New York percussionist Charles Descarfino has performed with numerous and diverse professional organizations including: The American Symphony Orchestra, The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, The American Composer’s Orchestra, The New York City Ballet Orchestra, The EOS Orchestra, Speculum Musicae, The Composers Conference, Mario Davidovsky director, The New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, The Brooklyn Philharmonic, The Louie Bellson Big Band and is featured with composer / pianist Mick Rossi on his latest release “One Block from Planet Earth” on Omnitone records as well as two prior releases “They Have a Word for Everything” on Knitting Factory Records with Dave Douglas and Inside the Sphere on Cadence Jazz Records with Kermit Driscoll. He has also performed with artists including Roberta Flack, Bette Midler, Freddy Cole, Kenny Rankin, Ben Vereen, and Jewel among others.
His most recent position was serving as percussionist and assistant conductor for the Broadway run of Sweet Charity, and has been percussionist for numerous Broadway shows including, Thoroughly Modern Millie, City of Angels, The Who’s Tommy, Titanic, Suessical and the Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
He has recorded on the Nonesuch, New World, Columbia, Sony, Decca, Opus One, Cadence, Knitting Factory, Omnitone, BMG and other labels and for jingles and major film releases including Disney’s Pocahontas, Mulan and the upcoming 2005 release of Mel Brooks “The Producers”.
His compositions for percussion have been performed at colleges around the U.S including William Paterson University, Rowan College of NJ, Peabody Conservatory, The Aspen Music Festival, Cal State Hayward and many others.
Contact:
Email: CharlesTD@aol.com
Phone: 845-365-0318
Stefano Del Sole
Stefano Del Sole was born in Bari (Italy) in 1978. Starts early his musical studies with M° Pasquale Maglione on the giutar. Later he starts his studies of Drums and Percussion at Conservatory “ N. Piccinni “ – Bari with M° Luigi Morleo. Stefano Del Sole studied and specialized in drums and percussion with international artists and musicians as Mike Quinn, Jean Jeoffrey, Beniamino Forestiere, etc. He also starts early his artistic work in bands and orchestras . He co-operated with Blackcurrant ( Desert Hill – 1996). Co-operated with Enemy. In 1998 he estabilished Southern Groove with who he recorded the album named “ Homeworks”. In 2000 he starts his work with Orchestra S. Francesco d’ Assisi in Bitonto, 2001 – 02 Percussionist of the Guitars Orchestra “ Manuel De Falla “, 2002–03 Percussionist of Orchestra del Conservatorio “ N. Piccinni “ – Bari. from 2002 he works with Joe Ontario and in 2002 he estabilishs the band “ Pride & Blues “. At the moment he works in duo with Giovanni Chiapperino ( Wu Ming Duo ) and as percussionist of the Orchestra dell’ Accademia Mandolinistica Napoletana. He composes musics for show and musicals. Stefano Del Sole is endorser for UFIP cymbals and Roll drums sticks. He teachs in Bari ( I.T.G. “ Euclide” ), Bitonto (Accademia di musica “ Davide delle Cese “ ), Rutigliano (Accademia Musicale di Rutigliano ), Venice (Il suono Improvviso), Venice (Pablo Neruda).
Peter DeSalvo
Pete DeSalvo, a native Long Islander, has directed school concert and jazz bands as well as numerous other ensembles for over 30 years. Mr. DeSalvo is a highly respected conductor, having worked with All-County and select concert and jazz bands in the Tri-state area. He earned his Bachelor of Music (BM) from the Crane School of Music, State University College at Potsdam, New York under the watchful eye of Professor James Petercsak, and received his Masters of Science (MS) from C.W. Post College of Long Island University, Greenvale, New York. Pete also studied 5 years with his mentor/teacher, Henry Adler, and is currently, under the tutelage of Bryan Carrott, working toward his Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at Five Towns College. Pete DeSalvo is currently Director of Bands at Sayville High School, New York, and Percussion Instructor at Five Towns College, Dix Hills, New York. He is the Downstate Vice President of the NY chapter of PAS, a member of the PAS Education Committee and chair of the PAS FUNdamentals Sub-committee.Indi Savitala, Vice President - New York City
Javier Diaz
Javier Diaz, a native of Cuba, is a percussionist with the American Symphony Orchestra and with several chamber music groups and Latin Jazz Bands in the New York Area. He has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New York Chamber Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, New York Perspectives Ensemble, Zankel Hall New Music Band, Hilliard Ensemble, Broadway's productions of Man of La Mancha, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Brooklyn and The Lion King. He is currently a percussionist with the Tarzan Broadway production. His studio credits include: ECM's Tituli by Stephen Hartke with the Hilliard Ensemble and the award winning short film Tango Flush. As an Afro-Cuban percussion specialist Mr. Diaz has appeared with: Lazaro Galarraga's Afro-Cuban All Stars, percussionist Angel Luis Figueroa, Candido Camero, Pedro Martinez, Los Acustilocos, The Panamerican Jazz Band, The Ethnix, Anette Aguilar’s Latin Jazz Group, Marta Topferova, Edgar Castaneda and the New York World Music Institute. He has taught Afro-Cuban percussion seminars at the Peabody Institute, University of Southern California, University of California Los Angeles, Percussion Artists Workshops Los Angeles/New York, Los Angeles School District and the Juilliard School. Mr. Diaz currently teaches the Afro-Cuban percussion survey at the Juilliard School. As a composer, Mr. Diaz has been commissioned by the Aspen Music Festival and USC. Mr. Diaz holds a BM from the University of Southern California and a MM from The Juilliard School.
Michael Eagle
With experience in many different musical communities, Michael is active in performance, private student and public teaching, writing, consulting, product design, artist management, and as a clinician. Currently, Mr. Eagle operates out of New York City, NY where he is a music instructor for the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development serving as the Drum Sergeant for the NYU Pipe & Drums. Michael is the owner of Eagle Artist Management which organizes several of his performing groups including Axiom Percussion, Metro Line: The East Coast All-Star Drumline, and Formal Marimba. Mr. Eagle is the also the president Eagle Made Products, a manufacturer of unique percussion product; and Landspeed Artist Management, acting as operations manager for the instrumental rock group Cordis (www.cordismusic.com). In addition, Michael is a partner and product designer for Beall Percussion Specialties (www.beallpercussion.com).
Mr. Eagle received his MM in Percussion Performance from the University of Texas at Austin. While at UT he studied with Dr. Thomas Burritt and Tony Edwards, instructed the Longhorn Band Drumline in 2005, performed principal timpanist duties for the 2006 Debussy Congress, directed the percussion section for Bereket: the UT Middle Eastern Ensemble, and was part of the UT Percussion Ensemble, the winner of the 2006 PASIC Collegiate Percussion Ensemble competition. While in Austin, Mr. Eagle also studied Scottish snare drumming with Jon Greene and performed with the North Texas Caledonian Pipes & Drums from Dallas, TX, Celtic Rock group Scottish Mayhem, traditional Irish group Bad Shiner, Percussion Theater group The Procrastinators, and Austin singer/songwriter Kalia Earsley.
Michael received his Bachelors in Music Education with emphasis in performance and composition from the University of Arkansas. At Arkansas he studied under Chalon Ragsdale and was part of the Wind Symphony that toured the east coast including a performance at the illustrious Carnegie Hall. Mr. Eagle also orchestrated two original productions that were presented as his student recitals: Words Unspoken and Uneven Souls. Both shows are of original concepts fusing many different facets of art including dance, poetry, and popular percussive works. In the summer of 2003, Michael participated in the 24th annual Leigh Howard Stevens marimba seminar in Asbury Park, N.J where he studied marimba performance with world-renowned marimbists She-E Wu and Leigh Howard Stevens.
As an educator, Mr. Eagle has taught or performed in master classes and clinics for dozens of public schools and colleges in 6 different states. His students have received individual and group awards from the local to national levels. He has given performance and lecture clinics at the University of Texas, UT Pan-American, Southwestern University, the University of Missouri at St. Louis, Lone Star College at Cy-Fair, and SCC Forest Park in St. Louis, MO. Upon receiving his Bachelors, he taught at Alma High School in Alma, AR where he began the Alma Percussion Ensemble Groups and co-founded River-Valley Regiment winter drumline. Mr. Eagle then moved to south Texas and served as the Percussion Director for the Edcouch-Elsa School District (XV-AAAA) in Edcouch, TX where his group and individual soloists were undefeated in Winter Drumline competitions. Michael’s drumline experiences include marching for Magic of Orlando in 2000 and for Phantom Regiment in 2001 and 2002. As a snare soloist, Michael finished in the top 10 at DCM, DCI, and PASIC competitions while winning the rudiment caption at PASIC in 2001 and 2002. Mr. Eagle has also been on the teaching staff for Memphis Sound Drum and Bugle Corps, and Gateway Indoor.
An avid promoter of the Celtic arts, Michael has studied pipe band drumming since 2000 receiving instruction from such top players as Jim Kilpatrick, John Fisher, Eric Ward, Reid Maxwell, Tom Robinson, Jon Greene, and Jon Quigg. Mr. Eagle is the 3-time EUSPBA Southwest Branch Grade II Snare Champion and currently competes in the open-class category. After a 4-year run with the North Texas Caledonians from Dallas, TX, he joined the Grade II Niagara Regional Police Pipe Band from Niagara Falls, ONT in 2007. The band performed consistently in 07, including top performances at the North American Championships in Maxville, Canada and the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Michael’s next venture to Scotland and ‘The Worlds’ was with the Silver Thistle Pipes & Drums from Austin, TX in 2008. Along with his position with the NYU Pipes & Drums, Michael also performs with the Grade I City of Washington Pipes & Drums from Washington, D.C.
Along with writing scores for numerous drum lines, Michael is a novice composer creating original works and arrangements for various percussion instruments. Some of his works for marimba and various percussion can be purchased through Bachovich Publications and is performed by Axiom Percussion. He is currently working on a compilation of movements from different Beethoven Piano Sonatas arranged for solo marimba. Mr. Eagle has also written several percussion theater skits including an original bit for Canada’s Tartan Terrors.
Michael is an active member of the Percussive Arts Society (PAS), Texas Music Educators (TMEA), Eastern United State Pipe Band Association (EUSPBA), and the Beethoven Society. He is a sponsored educator/artist for Pearl Drums Inc., Innovative Percussion, Tree Works Percussion, Sticktape.com, and Beall Percussion Specialties. Please visit www.michaeleagle.com for more information.
Frank Epstein
Frank Epstein has been a percussionist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1968. He is a member of the Tanglewood Music Center Faculty and is Chairman of the Brass and Percussion departments at the New England Conservatory of Music. He is a founding member of Collage New Music Ensemble, and served as it's music director for the ensemble's first 25 years. Published by Hal Leonard, his new book entitled "Cymbalisms" – A Complete Guide for the Orchestral Cymbal Player is now available from this website.
Frank Epstein has made available to percussionists around the world, the finest handle mounted castanets for orchestral use. In addition, his orchestral castanet playing machine is now also available. To complete the product line, a strong, sturdy and distinctive castanet carrying case is now available. His Cymbelt and Caddy, a highly prized bass drum and cymbal mounting system is used by many of his colleagues in orchestras and school music ensembles alike."Cymbalisms" – A Complete Guide for the Orchestral Cymbal Playeroffers keen insights into cymbal playing. His arrangement of the percussion part to Stravinsky's : "L'Histoire Du Soldat" is a must have. It is the only version of the part which allows the player to read the notes from bottom to top, while still playing the pitches as originally written.
Well-known as an experimenter in drumming and percussion equipment, Frank Epstein has created and introduced many innovations, including the Symphonic Castanet. Now you can purchase the results of his efforts, taking advantage of his knowledge and experience. Visit www.frankepstein.com
Gabriel Evens
Gabe Evens is a professional pianist, vocalist, accordionist, composer, arranger and teacher since 1988. His commissioned works include music for big band, string quartet, vocal ensemble, woodwind ensemble, percussion ensemble, percussion duo, mixed chamber ensemble, funk band and small jazz ensemble.
He has taught hundreds of students both privately and as a faculty member of Duke University, University of Miami, International College of Music in Kuala Lumpur, and University of Malaya. His classroom teaching includes ensemble, composition, arranging, theory, ear training and Alexander Technique.
Gabe is currently pursuing his DMA in jazz composition at the University of North Texas.
Craig Farr
Craig Farr, born 1975 in Hertford, England.
He currently lives in Bergen, Norway, where he holds a position as percussionist in the Norwegian Army Band, Bergen. As well as maintaining a fruitful career as a performer Craig also studies composition at the Grieg Academy of music.
His compositions have been performed at the Bergen International Festival as well as the Durham Brass Festival (UK), Avgarde, Borealis & BrassWind festivals (N). His compositions have inspired commissions from percussionists and wind players as well as professional wind bands, brass bands and festivals.
Trey Files
Trey Files' diverse interests have led him to work with an eclectic array of ensembles and musicians. As a member of Ethos Percussion Group, he has performed contemporary and world music at many of the country’s most prestigious venues, commissioned over twenty works for percussion quartet, released four CD’s and collaborated with Glen Velez, Pandit Samir Chatterjee, Simon Shaheen, Colorado String Quartet, Lark Chamber Artists, Bernard Woma and the Kansas City Symphony. Trey has also performed and/or recorded contemporary music with Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, New Music Consort and the Michael Gordon Band.
His extensive work in commercial and avant-garde theater includes a three-year stint as music supervisor for off-Broadway's De La Guarda and two years as drummer/associate conductor for Spring Awakening, a Broadway musical that won 8 TONY Awards (including Best Musical and Best Score) and a Grammy. Trey is co-artistic director and resident composer for 2nd Species, a collective of aerialists and musicians that has performed for audiences in New York and Los Angeles and for corporate clients such as Diesel Fashion, ESPN and Red Bull.
Charles Gardner
Charles was born June 1989. He has studied under Professor Bill Rice at James Madison University and is currently perusing a BM in music education at the University of North Texas. Charles was a two-time member of the competitive Virginia All Sate Band. Charles performed on the Virginia premier of Nathan Daughtry’s arrangement of David Dillingham’s Marimba concerto with Nathan Daughtry. Charles also performed on stage with Kieth Urban during his 2007-2008 tour.Currently Charles is a percussion tech and arranger for Washington County Schools in Virginia.
Dave Gerhart
Dave Gerhart holds a D.M.A. from the University of Southern California in Percussion Performance with a secondary emphasis in Music Education, Ethnomusicology, and Music Industry & Technology. Dr. Gerhart received a M.M. in Percussion Performance and Instrumental Conducting and a B.M. in Music Education from California State University, Long Beach. He has been featured on CDs with the Robin Cox Ensemble and most recently with Steven Hartke on Sonic Scenery for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. As a freelance musician, Dave has performed under Zubin Mehta, Mehli Mehta, and has performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Bobby McFerrin, Michael Kamen, Yefim Bronfman, Ray Holman, and Robert Greenidge. His principle teachers include Dr. Michael Carney, Erik Forrester, Brad Dutz, and Raynor Carroll, principal percussionist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Dave is currently the director of the CSULB University Percussion Ensemble and the CSULB New Music Ensemble. He is also a member of the applied music faculty at CSULB. His arrangements for percussion ensemble are published by Bachovich Music Publications. Dr. Gerhart is a member of the Island Hoppin' Steel Drum Band and the IronWorks Percussion Duo.
Joseph Gramley
Multi-percussionist Joseph Gramley is a professor of music at the University of Michigan and director of the university's famed Percussion Ensemble. Gramley's dynamic and exciting performances as a soloist have garnered critical acclaim and enthusiasm from emerging composers, percussion aficionados and first-time concert-goers alike. He is committed to bringing fresh and inventive compositions to a broad public and often commissions and premieres new works. His first solo recording, American Deconstruction, an expert rendition of five milestone works in multi-percussion's huge new modern repertoire, appeared in 2000 and was reissued in 2006. His second CD, Global Percussion, was released in 2005.
An invitation from Yo-Yo Ma in 2000 led Gramley to join Mr. Ma's Silk Road Ensemble. In addition to participating in the group's extended residencies in cities across the globe, Gramley has toured with Mr. Ma and the Ensemble throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, performing in the world's finest concert halls. Along the way, Gramley has studied percussion styles and instruments from around the globe, collaborating with internationally-renowned musicians from India, Iran, China, Japan, Korea, and Central Asia. He has appeared on several top-selling albums with Yo-Yo Ma on the SonyBMG label, including New Impossibilities, recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2007. Gramley and other members of the Ensemble recently released Off the Map (In a Circle Records).
In November 2008, Gramley and Yo-Yo Ma performed together as guest artists with the Nashville Symphony. In addition to his solo and Silk Road work, as well as his frequent appearances with chamber groups and orchestras, Gramley performs with the acclaimed British organist Clive Driskill-Smith in the duo Organized Rhythm. The pair's first recording, Beaming Music, was issued in 2008.
Joseph Gramley has performed with: the Metropolitan Opera (on stage with Placido Domingo), Pierre-Laurent Aimard (US tour), Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (soloist), St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (guest principal timpanist and percussionist), Seattle Symphony, Orchestre de Lyon, Dawn Upshaw (US tour), David Robertson (Carnegie Hall), Spoleto Festival (soloist), Martha Graham Dance Company, Merce Cunningham Dance Company, New York City Ballet, Glen Velez (US tour), Keiko Abe (PASIC), Aretha Franklin, Elton John (at Radio City Music Hall and on worldwide TV and DVD), Kayhan Kalhor, Alim Qasimov, Wu Tong, Sandeep Das and numerous others. Since 2009 he has performed and toured with The Knights chamber orchestra in both the United States and Europe.
Born in 1970, Gramley grew up in Oregon and was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts while a senior at the Interlochen Arts Academy in 1988. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Michigan, where he studied with Michael Udow and Salvatore Rabbio, and he also attended the Tanglewood Institute and Salzburg Mozarteum.
Gramley made his concerto debut with the Houston Symphony Orchestra after winning their National Soloist Competition, and made his solo debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in 1994. After graduate studies with Gordon Gottlieb and Daniel Druckman at the Juilliard School in New York, he performed and recorded with the Ethos Percussion Group throughout the U. S. and Europe.
For ten years, Joseph Gramley has directed the Juilliard Summer Percussion Seminar, an intensive program for high-school students held annually at Lincoln Center in New York City.
Josephgramley.com - OrganizedRhythm.com
Richard Grimes
Richard Grimes is establishing himself as a pioneer in the field contemporary/crossover performance. By merging the primitive craft of global percussion with the dynamic possibilities of contemporary chamber music, Over the span of his relatively young career, Grimes has worked alongside a growing roster of talent, including cimbalom virtuoso Viktoria Herencsar and Zimbabwean mbirist Cosmas Magaya in venues ranging from intimate performance spaces to Carnegie Hall. In Fall 2003, Richard was a featured performer at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Louisville, KY. During the 2006 summer months Richard will complete a book outlining the history and performance practice of the Hungarian concert cimbalom. In addition to his compositional and solo performance efforts, Richard is a founding member of the contemporary quintet Cordis.
Norman Grossman
Born in 1932, Normal Grossman studied Composition with Edmond de Luca in Philadelphia and Constant Vauclain at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Grossman directed the music school at the Emanuel Midtown YMHA and was head of the”Music Studio” at Bronx Community College. As a free lance trumpet player, he has performed with concert and jazz groups in New York and Philadelphia.
Wang Guowei
Wang Guowei is one of the most outstanding erhu soloists of his generation. Born in Shanghai, he joined the Shanghai Traditional Orchestra at age 17, later becoming erhu soloist and concertmaster. He also earned a degree from the Shanghai Conservatory majoring in erhu performance. He gained national prominence in garnering prestigious awards including the "ART Cup" at the 1989 International Chinese Instrumental Music Competition and received accolades for his performances at the 15th annual "Shanghai Spring Music Festival." In America, Wang Guowei has been hailed by New York Times and Washington Post music critics as a "master of the erhu" and praised for his "extraordinary" and "gorgeous" playing of the instrument.
His musical collaboration includes performances with the Virginia Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, New Music Consort, Norfolk Chamber Consort, Ethos Percussion Group, New York Percussion Quartet, Amelia Piano Trio, Third Angle New Music Ensemble; Philadelphia Classical Symphony, Post Classical Symphony, DaCamera of Houston, Continuum, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Opera Boston, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma; jazz artists Ornette Coleman, Anthony Braxton, Butch Morris, and Kenny Garrett; the Ying, Shanghai, Sunrise, Cassatt, Todd Reynolds string quartets. Wang Guowei has also performed internationally in Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Belgium, Canada, England, Italy, and Australia.
As a composer, Wang Guowei expands the lexicon of erhu and Chinese ensemble music with varied instrumentation. His works include: Sheng, a solo for erhu; Tea House for Chinese orchestra which premiered on Australia's ABC Radio National and performed at the 1998 Adelaide Festival; Tang Wind commissioned by the Multicultural Group for Chinese instruments and Western orchestra; Two Pieces for Percussion Quartet: Kong˙Wu commissioned and premiered by the Ethos Percussion Group at Weill Recital Hall; Two Plus Two for Chinese string trio and tape; Three Poems for Erhu & Small Ensemble; Lullaby for erhu, clarinet & piano, and Songs for Huqin and Saxophone Quartet ("most successful" by Washington Post).
Wang Guowei has served as Artistic Director of the New York-based ensemble Music From China since 1996 and has performed with the group at colleges, universities, festivals, arts centers and cultural institutions across the U.S. and abroad. He has taught erhu and Chinese music at Wesleyan University, New York University, and currently Westminster Choir College at Rider University. Mr. Wang founded and is Music Director of the Music From China Youth Orchestra.
Jonathan Haas
Virtuoso timpanist Jonathan Haas has raised the status of the timpani to that of a solo instrument throughout his unique career that has spanned more than twenty years. From classical concertos to jazz and rock & roll, from symphonic masterpieces to the most experimental compositions of living composers, Haas has championed, commissioned, unearthed and celebrated music for his instrument, becoming, as Ovation magazine hailed him, "The Paganini of the timpani."
His concerts on the world's most prestigious musical stages and his ground-breaking recordings have delighted critics and listeners on both sides of the ocean. The New York Times wrote, "Wherever one finds a percussion instrument waiting to be rubbed, shook, struck or strummed, [Haas] is probably nearby, ready to fulfill his duties with consummate expertise... he is a masterful young percussionist."
Haas has garnered widespread praise and attention for his performances of Philip Glass' Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra, a piece conceived by Haas and completed because of his quest to spotlight the timpani. The Concerto Fantasy features not only two timpanists, but also 14 timpani, all placed downstage in front of the orchestra. In 2000, Haas performed the world premiere of the piece with the American Symphony, and he has subsequently performed it at Carnegie Hall and in Phoenix, New Jersey, Baltimore, Pasadena, Long Beach (California), St. Louis and Mexico City. Haas also performed the European premiere with the BBC Symphony in London, the world premiere of a chamber orchestra version with the Iris Chamber Orchestra in Memphis, the Czechoslovakian premiere with the Prague Symphony Orchestra at the International Music Prague Spring Festival, the Norwegian premiere with the Bergen Philharmonic, and he will perform the Australian premiere with the Sydney Symphony and the Turkish premiere with the Istanbul Philharmonic.
Haas' successful efforts to expand the timpani repertoire have led him to commission and premiere more than 25 works by composers in addition to Philip Glass such as Stephen Albert, Marius Constant, Irwin Bazelon, Eric Ewazen, Thomas Hamilton, Robert Hall Lewis, Jean Piche, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Andrew Thomas, and many others.
Haas also attracted plaudits when he built the world's largest timpani, which is nearly 6' wide, nearly 4' tall, and 70 inches in diameter, almost twice the size of the world's second-largest timpani (a 48-incher used by Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Orchestra). Haas discovered the kettle in an Aspen cow pasture. It had originally been used to manufacture Swiss cheese at the turn of the century and, remarkably, matched the exact size specifications of a timpani. Haas debuted a prototype of this unprecedented, incredible instrument at the Aspen Music Festival in August 2003, and it made its official premiere at the Percussive Arts Society's annual convention in Louisville, KY, in November 2003.
Additionally, Haas recently invented a process to improve the performance of crash cymbals that has been developed into a new instrument called "The Master Series Anti-Lock Cymbal" produced by Zildjian, the largest manufacturer of cymbals in the world.
Haas' recordings include the trail-blazing 18th Century Concertos for Timpani and Orchestra and Johnny H. and the Prisoners of Swing, both on Sunset Records. The latter was named for his jazz group and features innovative renderings of jazz compositions featuring "hot timpani" in front of a full jazz ensemble. His rediscovery of Duke Ellington's brilliant composition for jazz timpani, "Tympaturbably Blue," is included on this recording, as are other jazz standards played on a set of ten kettledrums.
Demonstrating a remarkable versatility as a musician, Haas has performed and recorded with Emerson, Lake and Palmer, played on the Grammy Award-winning recording Zappa's Universe, recorded with Aerosmith, Michael Bolton, Black Sabbath, and explored heavy metal with his rock group Clozshave.
The rarest of modern virtuosi, Haas embarked on his career as a solo timpanist by performing the only solo timpani recital ever presented at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1980. As an orchestral soloist, he made his debut with the New York Chamber Orchestra under Maxim Shostakovich and his European solo debut with the Bournemouth Sinfonietta. He made his French debut performing Andrez Panufnick's Concerto for Percussion, Timpani and Orchestra with the Orchestra de la Garde Republicaine. He was the soloist in the Druschetsky Concerto for Eight Timpani, Oboe and Orchestra with the Aspen Chamber Orchestra. He has also performed as a solo timpanist for the Distinguished Artists Recital Series at New York's 92nd Street 'Y' and as a guest artist with the Lincoln Center Chamber Society, the Chamber Music at the 'Y' Series, and the Newport Chamber Music Festival. He has championed new music by presenting adventuresome programming such as The Music of Frank Zappa, showcasing the music of Edgar Varese and Frank Zappa, under the auspices of Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series.
Haas is the principal timpanist of the EOS Orchestra and the Aspen Chamber Orchestra and principal percussionist of the American Symphony Orchestra, as well as a member of the American Composers Orchestra. He performs with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, New York Pops, and New Jersey Symphony and has performed and recorded with the New York Philharmonic, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the New York Chamber Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and virtually every other New York-area performing arts organization.
A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Haas received his Master's Degree from the Juilliard School as a student of Saul Goodman. An inspiring teacher, he has been the director of the Peabody Conservatory Percussion Studio for twenty years and a faculty artist of the Aspen Music School, and he conducts the percussion ensembles at both schools. He has presented master classes throughout the United States and internationally at the Toho Gauken, Hanoi Conservatory, Paris Conservatory, and the Graz Percussion School. Sharing his enthusiasm for music with young people, he has presented over two hundred concert-demonstrations with his "Drumfire" program, under the auspices of the Lincoln Center Institute, the New York Chamber Symphony's Sidney Wolff Children's Concert Series, and the Aspen Festival Young Person's Concert Series.
As active an entrepreneur as he is an artist, Haas heads Sunset Records, Kettles and Company, and Gemini Music Productions (www.geminimusic.com), which contracts musicians for Lincoln Center, New York Pops, and many other organizations. He also works closely with percussion industry manufacturers Pearl/Adams, Promark and Zildjian, among others.
Haas' official web site can be visited atwww.aboutjonathanhaas.com
John Hadfield
Percussionist John Hadfield's dedication to bending genres has taken him from the jungles of Indonesia to concert halls and clubs across the world. At home in New York, Time Out New York has recently pointed out "John Hadfield's percussion is so impeccable."
John Hadfield has released two records of his own compositions, mainly written for percussion instruments and electronics but also including guitar, harp, violin and cello –The Eye of Gordon (2008) and Displaced (2010). He is currently on the Jazz faculty of New York University, where he teaches drum set and the World Percussion Ensemble.
Bringing together distinct domains of expertise and traditions –including, but not limited to classical percussion, Hindustani and Carnatic music, jazz, rock, and electronic music, John has developed unique ways of performing with multiple percussion instruments simultaneously. He has been exploring the sonic and kinetic possibilities resulting from the combination of multiple instruments and electronics (such as Ableton Live). His compositions typically involve a wide range of sounds –from the most traditional such as the drum set to the classical Indian Kanjira or Ghatam to found objects such as bicycle wheels, pieces of metal and ventilation tubes.
John Hadfield's varied expertise has allowed him to perform with a broad range of ensembles and artists including: Yo-Yo Ma, The Silk Road Ensemble, The Saturday Night Live Band on NBC, Bang on a Can, The Michael Gordon Band, The HUM Ensemble, Sky White Tiger, Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, Combo Nuvo, Daniel Hope, The Bassam Saba Ensemble, Ethos Percussion Group and Gamelan Dharma Swara.
While performing with jazz groups, John Hadfield has worked alongside Lenny Pickett, Kenny Werner, George Garzone, Gil Goldstein, Andrew D'Angelo, Bobby Watson, Satoshi Takeshi, Brad Shepik, Mike Richmond and Erik Friedlander.
John Hadfield has also collaborated on more than 50 recordings as a guest artist, including the GRAMMY award winner Yo-Yo Ma and Friends, Songs of Joy and Peace (SONY BMG 2008).
As Downtown Music Gallery founder Bruce Lee Gallanter has summed up in one of his reviews of John's records, "[w]hat makes this special is that Mr. Hadfield knows how to use percussion in a more organic way that rarely deals with any sort of (logical or overused) beats, yet the music remains consistently fascinating throughout."
Tom Hamilton
TOM HAMILTON has been composing and performing for over 40 years, and his work with electronic music originated in the late-60s era of analog synthesis. Hamilton often explores the interaction of many simultaneous layers of activity, prompting the use of "present-time listening" on the part of both performer and listener.
Hamilton was a 2005 Fellow of the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, participating in a residency at the foundation's center in Umbria. His CD London Fix received an award in the 2004 Prix Ars Electronica. His performing and recording colleagues have included Peter Zummo, Bruce Gremo, Karlheinz Essl, Bruce Arnold, Rich O'Donnell, Jonathan Haas, Jacqueline Martelle, Steve Nelson-Raney, Hal Rammel, Thomas Buckner, Richard Lerman, Thomas Gaudynski, Bruce Eisenbeil, and Al Margolis. He has been a collaborator with visual artists, including Fred Worden (filmmaker), Van McElwee and Morey Gers (video artists), and the late Ernst Haas (photographer).
An active participant in New York's new music scene, Hamilton was the co-director of the 2004 Sounds Like Now festival, and he co-produced the Cooler in the Shade/Warmer by the Stove new music series for 14 years. Since 1990, he has been a member of composer Robert Ashley's touring opera ensemble, performing sound processing and mixing in both recordings and concerts. Hamilton's electronic music has been released on 15 CDs in the past two decades.
Joel Harrison
As guitarist, composer and vocalist, Washington D.C. native Joel Harrison resists categorization: jazz, African and Indian, contemporary classical, blues and Appalachian tunes all have a place in his unique approach. He is equally at home writing songs and complex chamber music, playing modern jazz and bar blues.
Harrison graduated from Bard College with a BA in composition and performance in 1980, studying with Joan Tower; in the ensuing years he worked privately with Allaudin Mathieu, Ran Blake, Charlie Banacos, Ali Akbar Khan and others. While living in the San Francisco area in the 1990's Harrison released two cd's of original works for jazz octet and sextet, Range of Motion and Transience, as well as 3+3=7, works for three guitars and three percussionists featuring Nels Cline. After moving to New York City in 1999, he continued his headlong rush into ever-inventive bands and projects including: Free Country: ACT (radical renditions of old country and Appalach ian music); Harrison on Harrison (re-composed improvisations of the music of George Harrison featuring Dave Liebman), and The String Choir (string quartet and two guitars play music of Paul Motian). In 2007 he released a new cd for Highnote Records entitled Harbor with renowned guitarist Nguyen Le.
Harrison's latest projects are being released on Intuition Records in May 2008: “The Wheel”, an extended suite for String quartet and jazz quartet plus guitar, and Passing Train, a collection of original songs produced by Ben Wittman.
Harrison is best known for his composing and arranging skills. He has twice been selected as the winner of the Jazz Composer's Alliance Julius Hemphill Composition Competition, and has been the recipient of commissions from Chamber Music America, Meet the Composer, the Cary Trust, NYSCA, Jerome Foundation, and others. His solo for marimba recently took first prize in the Percussive Arts Society's worldwide competition. Other recent chamber works include a two movement work for four percussion and piano, a violin solo, and a commission for the group Mosaic (fl.,vc.,pn.,perc.). H arrison has been a guest of the MacDowell and VCCA artist colonies. His allies in his various projects have included Dave Liebman, Norah Jones, David Binney, Jamey Haddad, Dan Weiss, Dewey Redman, Uri Caine, Todd Reynolds, Wendy Sutter, Christian Howes, and Caleb Burhans.
Thom Hasenpflug
Dr. Thom Hasenpflug is nationally recognized as a unique performer and educational voice, while his compositions for percussion receive international recognition and are played all over the world. Currently the Director of Percussion Studies at Idaho State University , he has held prior teaching posts at Drake University, the University of South Dakota, Emporia State University, and the Tennessee Governor's School for the Arts.
Dr. Hasenpflug has presented performances, clinics and masterclasses at many universities, high schools, and festivals, for several Percussive Arts Society chapter Days of Percussion, and at the PAS International Convention. As a composer, he has been commissioned by some of the field’s leading percussionists, and has received top awards in the 1995 PAS composition contest for South of Jupiter, as well as receiving the Louis Smadbeck prize for Six Bagatelles. He was a featured composer-artist at several recent PAS International Conventions. Other international performances of his works have occurred in London, Barcelona, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Dublin, Rio de Janiero, Venezuela, and Sweden, by various percussion groups / individuals of note.
Born in 1966, he received his degrees in percussion and composition from Ithaca College and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Colorado, having studied primarily with Gordon Stout, Doug Walter, Greg Woodward, Joe Lukasik, and secondarily with Bill Molenhof and Dana Wilson. Additionally, Hasenpflug was fortunate to study privately with notable Pulitzer Prize-winning composers during their respective residencies at Ithaca, including John Corigliano, William Bolcom, and Karel Husa.
He is an endorser of Pro-Mark Sticks and Mallets, Remo Drumheads, and Sabian Cymbals. He lives with his wife and 2 bunnies in Pocatello, Idaho.
Matt Jordan
Matt Jordan currently lives in the Denton, TX area, where he is a Graduate Teaching Fellow at the University of North Texas. His duties at UNT include teaching the UNT Percussion Group, as well as the 8:00 Steel Band. Before starting at UNT, Matt earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance (Cum Laude) from Middle Tennessee State University. He has been on the percussion staff for Spirit Drum and Bugle Corps since 2007, and has previously worked with Music City Mystique. Matt is also an active arranger, writing for ensembles throughout the United States such as Father Ryan High School, Solace Indoor Percussion, McGavock High School, Grissom High School, Franklin High School, Mountain View High School, and Middle Tennessee State University.
Matt is currently principal percussionist with the world-renowned University of North Texas Wind Symphony, as well as playing in the 2:00 Lab Band, UNT Percussion Ensemble, and other ensembles. Matt is also an active solo performer, having been a soloist with the UNT Percussion Ensemble at PASIC 2009 and TMEA 2010, the MTSU Wind Ensemble and Percussion Ensemble, and the Eastern Music Festival percussion ensemble.
Matt was the timpanist of the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps in 2003 and 2004, and Music City Mystique from 2000-2005. In 2004, he received 1st place in both the PASIC and DCI Timpani Individuals competitions. Matt’s major influences include - Lalo Davila, Erik Johnson, Christopher Deane, Mark Ford, Robert Schietroma, Leigh Howard Stevens, Christopher Norton, John Feddersen, Scot Corey, and Bill Wiggins.
Matt performs with Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets exclusively.
Gene Koshinski
Percussionist and composer Dr. Gene Koshinski has delighted audiences worldwide with his dynamic performances and creative programming. He is currently Assistant Professor of Percussion at the University of Minnesota Duluth and in demand as a soloist and chamber musician having performed in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Jordan, Slovenia, Canada, and throughout the United States. In 2002, Koshinski won the National MTNA Percussion Competition in Cincinnati, OH and in 2004, finished 3rd in the prestigious Universal Marimba Duo Competition in Sint-Truiden, Belgium. As a composer, Koshinski was named this year’s recipient of The ASCAP Foundation Nissim Prize for his work Concerto for Marimba and Choir. Throughout his career, Koshinski has worked with many notable performing organizations and artists including NFL Films, Late Show with David Letterman, Mary Wilson (the Supremes), David Samuels, Wycliffe Gordon, Philadelphia Boys Choir, The Lettermen, Hartford Symphony, Lehigh Valley Choral Arts, Minnesota Ballet, and is currently section percussionist for the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra and a member of Nebojsa Zivkovic’s Jovan Perkussion Projekt. For his work with NFL Films, he can be heard on the Emmy award-winning soundtrack A Century of NFL. Performances have also been heard on the CBS, PBS, and EPSN television networks as well as NPR. In addition, he has recorded for the Naxos, Innova, MSR Classics, and Equilibrium record labels. Koshinski is a founding member of the Quey Percussion Duo, a touring group established to generate new works for percussion while also bringing standard repertoire to a broad audience. He also serves as Director of Percussion at the annual 6-week Performing Arts Institute International Summer Music Festival in Kingston, PA. Recently, Koshinski served as a judge for the 2009 Percussive Arts Society Solo Competition at the PAS International Convention in Indianapolis. He recently published a method book entitled The Additive Method of Two-Mallet Study, which focuses on keyboard percussion technique and performance. As an advocate for new music, Koshinski has commissioned and premiered works by renowned composers including Stuart Saunders Smith, Alejandro Viñao, David Macbride, and Dave Hollinden. He holds degrees from West Chester University (BM) and The Hartt School (MM and DMA). His method book, solo albums, and over 20 published compositions are distributed internationally, with many of his compositions receiving frequent global performances. Gene Koshinski is sponsored by Korogi Marimbas, Sabian Cymbals, Remo Drum Heads, and Innovative Percussion and his works are published by HoneyRock, Bachovich, and C. Alan Publications.
www.genekoshinski.com
Andrew Kruspe
Andrew Kruspe attended the University of Central Florida and graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor of Music Education. Mr. Kruspe was active with many university ensembles, including the Wind Ensemble, Orchestra, Marching Knights, Chamber Percussion Ensemble, Pop Percussion Ensemble, and the steel drum band “Black Steel”. His undergraduate instructors include Jeffrey Moore and Clif Walker.
While in college, Mr. Kruspe was active with Drum Corps International. He was a performing member of the Madison Scouts and Magic of Orlando and was a member of the instructional staff with Southwind Drum and Bugle Corps.
Mr. Kruspe attended graduate school at Louisiana State University, where he performed with the Wind Ensemble under Frank Wickes and the LSU Percussion Ensembles under Dr. Michael Kingan. After his first year of graduate school, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served as a field musician with the Marine Forces Reserve Band- New Orleans. He finished his Master of Music in 2003 amidst military ceremonies, domestic and European concert tours, and required field and weapons training.
After his enlistment, Mr. Kruspe began a career as a public school teacher. He was most recently the Assistant Director of Bands at Spain Park High School in Hoover, Alabama.
Mr. Kruspe is currently a freelance performer and teacher in Huntsville, Alabama. His clients include the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Virgil I. Grissom High School, The Randolph School, Mountain Gap Middle School, and Whitesburg Middle School. He has performed with the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra and has been a featured soloist with the Brass Band of Huntsville. He also performs regularly with SlipJig, a local Celtic band.
Mr. Kruspe is a member of the Alabama Bandmasters Association, Percussive Arts Society, MENC (The National Association for Music Education), and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.
John La Barbera
For more than three decades, guitarist, mandolinist, and composer arranger, John La Barbera, has enchanted audiences throughout the United States, Europe and South America. Among the concert halls and music festivals where John has been invited to perform include: The Montreal Jazz Festival, Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall-Lincoln Center, The Felt Forum, Guggenheim Museum, Metropolitan Museum of New York, Smithsonian Institute, UCLA, the Field Museum in Chicago and the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Arts, the San Francisco World Music Festival, Central Park Summer Stage and at the Jones Beach Theater. Also tours throughout Eastern Europe, Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and in Brazil, where he was sponsored by the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Brasil Festeiro and SESC, in Sao Paulo.
As a composer, La Barbera has won several awards and commissions. From The Jerome Foundation he was commissioned to write a work for the ETHOS Percussion ensemble, The Marimba Ba Suite for percussion, which premiered in 2001 and released on their CD Sol Tunnels; in 1996 by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The Martin Gruss Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts in New York, to compose The Dance of the Ancient Spider, which premiered at Alice Tully Hall; Funding from the New York State Council on the Arts and meet the Composer; commissioned by the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City to compose the Opera: Stabat Mater-Donna Di Paradiso. His music has been recorded by various artists including percussionists; Yousef Sheronick and Joseph Gramley with Danza del Fuego for Marinba and Dumbeck; Jazz harmonica artist Enrico Granafei together with Fred Hirsh, Alan Nussbaum and Mark Johnson, who recorded Waltz for Waiting. He has received numerous composer awards from ASCAP and his song Sun Goes Down was awarded Jazz finalist in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition. He is the author of Southern Italian Mandolin and Fiddle Tunes, Mel Bay Publications.
Gregory Landes
Gregory Landes has appeared as both a timpanist and percussionist in many symphony orchestras, as well as a drummer and percussionist for many Broadway productions.
Gregory was the principal timpanist with the New Haven Symphony and has also performed as principal timpanist and percussionist with the American Symphony Orchestra, New York Chorale Society, The Brooklyn Philharmonic, Albany Symphony, Manhattan Philharmonic, Little Orchestra Society of New York, Westfield, Greenwich, Stamford, and Westchester Symphonies, Masterwork Chorale Orchestra, Opera Northeast and the Goldman Band. Gregory has performed in every major concert hall in New York, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, BAM and The Allen Room (Lincoln Center Jazz). He has participated in several prestigious summer music festivals including: The Bard, Caramoor, Waterloo, Cape May, and National Repertory Orchestra. Gregory has performed throughout the world including performances on all four islands of Japan with the opera "Porgy and Bess", a tour of Australia and Germany with the ground-breaking new music group Absolute Ensemble, Kristjan Jarvi director and throughout Europe with various orchestras. Gregory has performed with many great artists including Paquito D’Rivera, Chuck Mangione, Steve Gadd, Julie Andrews and Steven Sondheim.
Gregory received his B.M. from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and his Masters degree from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Roland Kohloff, principal timpanist of the New York Philharmonic. While attending Juilliard, Gregory performed under the batons of Zubin Mehta, Leonard Slatkin, Gerard Schwartz, Lucas Foss and Otto Werner Mueller. Gregory also recorded two premiers with the Juilliard Orchestra (on New World Records), and traveled to Norway with the Juilliard Brass Ensemble.
Gregory has performed as both drummer and percussionist for numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, including “Curtains,” “The Grinch,” “Altar Boyz,” “Wicked,” “Chitty2 Bang2,” “42nd Street,” “Play Without Words,” “Ragtime,” “Les Miserables,” “Falsettos,” “Putting It Together,”(with Julie Andrews), “Gypsy,” “Guys and Dolls,” “Forum,” “Showboat,” “Crazy for You,” “BatBoy,” “Big,” “Grease,” and many others.
Gregory Landes' recording credits include the Summit Brass: American Tribute as well as The Hora Decima Brass Ensemble both on Summit Records, The Julliard Orchestra on New World Records, the musicals, “Curtains” on The Blue Note Label Group “Falsettoland” on DRG Records, and “Putting It Together” on RCA Victor/BMG Classics as well as “A, My Name Will Always Be Alice” on Original Cast Records.
In 1997, Gregory and his brother Garah Landes formed the Piano and Percussion duo, Synchronicity.
Feng-Hsu Lee
Feng-Hsu Lee, a Taiwanese composer, has received numerous awards, among them, the first prize of the Washington International Competition for Composition (2012), the runner-up of the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute (2010), honorable mention of the Chamber Music Rochester Young Composer Competition (2009), the Anthony and Carolyn Donato Prize of the Eastman School of Music (2008), the second prize in the Literature and Arts Creation Award of the Ministry of Education in Taiwan (2008), the first prize of the Taipei Percussion Composition Competition (2002), the first prize of the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra International Composition Competition (2001).
His commissioned works include, those for the Council for Cultural Affairs Taiwan, Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, YinQi Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Central Connecticut State University Chamber Players, Performance 20/20 of the Hartt School, Taipei Century Choir, Taiwanese Choral Society of Rochester, Lien Percussion, Composition VII Saxophone Quartet, and Sylvanus Ensemble. He is currently a doctoral candidate in composition at the Hartt School, University of Hartford, studying with Larry Alan Smith, Stephen Michael Gryc, Robert Carl, and David Macbride. He holds the degree of composition from the Eastman School of Music (MM), National Taiwan Normal University (MA) and Soochow University (BM), studying with Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Carlos Sánchez-Gutiérrez, and Gordon Shi-Wen Chin.
Stanley Leonard
STANLEY LEONARD has been an active participant in the world of percussion for over sixty-five years. He began performing professionally as percussionist at the age of seventeen with the Kansas City Philharmonic, later the Rochester Philharmonic, and had a distinguished thirty-eight year career as Principal Timpanist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. This career included nationwide and international concert performances, television series, five solo appearances with the Symphony that presented two world premier performances of commissioned works and two American premieres. He performed with the PSO on more than fifty recordings for Capitol, Angel, Phillips, Columbia, Command, Everest and Sony. Pittsburgh Symphony Music Directors were consistent in their appreciation of Stanley’s artistry. William Steinberg stated, “He is the number one man in the orchestra, the embodiment of tympanum playing.” Andre Previn said, “He is not only a virtuoso timpanist but a consummate musician.” When Leonard retired Lorin Maazel commented, “He is a hard man to replace.”
During the Pittsburgh years Stanley taught percussion, timpani and percussion ensemble at Carnegie Mellon University. He held this position for twenty years, later assuming responsibilities at Duquesne University as Adjunct Professor of Percussion, teaching timpani and conducting the percussion ensemble. His students have found places in the performing world, education, and the music industry. Former students are, or have been, regular percussionists/timpanists in the National Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Pittsburgh Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Army, Navy, and Air Force bands in Washington, DC and regional professional orchestras.
Starting his university teaching career in 1958, Stanley discovered a shortage of music for students to use for technical study and to perform in ensemble. He began writing technical studies, etudes, solos for snare drum, timpani and percussion ensemble music. Established publishers in the United States and Europe became interested in his music and there are now over forty of his works for percussion, timpani, and percussion ensemble published by LudwigMasters Music, C. Alan Publications, Drop 6 Media, Boosey and Hawkes, PerMus Publications, Studio Four, Rowloff and Bachovich Music. Forty-seven more pieces are listed in the Stanley Leonard Percussion Music catalog. The music is performed worldwide. He is the author of the well known method Pedal Technique for the Timpani. Stanley is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. He performs and conducts his compositions on two CDs, Canticle, and Collage.
Active participation in the percussion world continues in retirement. Stanley is resident timpanist/composer/handbell director at Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church in Naples, Florida. Percussion Summit performances in Naples have included premiers of his works Hurricane and Traveling Music. He has appeared as a soloist at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts and performed with members of the Naples Philharmonic. Stanley has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) and is a member of the PAS Symphonic Committee. He has made several presentations at the international conventions of the Percussive Arts Society. He has presented master classes at conservatories and universities throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.
Robert Levin
A specialist in traditional West African music, Robert is a composer whose credits include the feature film Inside, directed by Arthur Penn, as well as many documentaries and works for television. He has composed new music commissions which have been performed throughout the USA and Europe. He is also an active performer on keyboards, percussion and West African drums, and has played for film soundtracks, Broadway shows, TV programs, album projects, and live tours in the USA and abroad. Since the show opened in 1997, he has been performing regularly on Broadway in The Lion King.
Robert studied ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University and received his Masters in composition at Yale University. He has spent much time in Ghana, West Africa, studying drumming, singing and dancing. He also founded a public elementary and junior high school in a farming village in southeastern Ghana in 1988, and has been building and supporting it since then (visit www.kgsf.org). Robert spent the summer of 2011 in Bangalore, India, studying South Indian classical music and percussion, and is composing a piece for piano and a battery of Indian percussion.
Robert has brought traditional West African Music to many students in the USA, including classes at Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, Tufts University, Sarah Lawrence, University of Northern Iowa, Princeton University, Yale and Wesleyan, and Brooklyn Academy of Music's DanceAfrica Festival.
Alexandre Lunsqui
Alexandre Lunsqui (Sao Paulo) is a graduate of the University of Campinas, and pursued postgraduate studies in composition at University of Iowa, Columbia University, and IRCAM (year-long course of composition and computer music). His mains composition teachers were JosÈ Augusto Mannis and Tristan Murail. His music has been played in Argentina, Austria, Brazil, China, England, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, and around the US. He has participated in festivals such as Gaudeamus Music Week, Manca, Darmstadt, CrossDrumming, Aspekte, Time of Music, Musica Nova, Beijing Modern, Music at the Anthology, Creative Music Festival, PASIC, Luxembourg Fest and Resonances. He has been awarded the Virtuose Prize given by the Ministry of Culture of Brazil. Ensembles that have played his music include Ensemble Aleph, Arditti String Quartet, Argento Chamber Ensemble, Ensemble L'Arsenale, Ensemble Piano Possibile, Ensemble Counter)induction, New York New Music Ensemble, New York Miniaturist Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, TimeTable Percussion, ECCE, MATA Micro Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, and Due East. A CD with his chamber music was released in spring 2008. His compositions have been recorded on the Gravina Musica, Usk and Metronome labels (http://www.lunsqui.com).
Pedro Malpica
Peruvian composer Pedro Malpica has been performed in North America, Latin America and Europe, by ensembles such as the Peruvian National Symphony Orchestra, the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, the Uninorte Orchestra of Paraguay, ALEA III, the Hellenic Group of Contemporary Music, NEXTET, the Cygnus Ensemble, The TALEA Ensemble, The Juilliard Pierrot Ensemble, and ECCE, in important venues and festivals such as the Tsai Performance Center, Alice Tully Hall (Lincoln Center), Paine Hall (Harvard University), the Juilliard School, the Oberlin Conservatory, the Composers Conference at Wellesley College, the CrossSound Festival in Alaska, Morelia Música Nueva, the III, IV and VI Festival de Música Clásica Contemporánea de Lima, and the II Festival de Música Contemporánea de Asunción, among many others. His music has been described as “…a storm of blurry, jagged sound that seems to come from some distant, dangerous past... perhaps the strongest of an evening of generally strong work,” (David Salvage, Sequenza21), as well as “... impressive work… reaches hypnotic levels...” (Distinguished conductor Carmen Moral, Lundero Magazine)
A 2006 UNESCO Artist in Residence at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Malpica has also been Artist in Residence at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, as well as Guest Composer at the Contemporary Music Festival in Lima, and has taught courses and given lectures, seminars and master classes at Boston University, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the Peruvian National Conservatory of Music, as well as for Circomper, the Circle of Peruvian Composers.
Malpica is a graduate of the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, Boston University and The Juilliard School. He has studied composition with Alfonso Fuentes, Theodore Antoniou, Lukas Foss, Christopher Rouse, David Del Tredici and Tania Leon, and theory with Carl Schachter, David Kopp, Philip Lasser, Joseph Straus, Poundie Burstein and William Rothstein.
Brian Mason
Brian S. Mason is a highly respected innovator of the contemporary marching percussion ensemble. In high demand as a clinician, designer, and adjudicator, he has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Japan,mCanada, Korea, and Mexico. Brian gained worldwide recognition for his percussion writing and teaching with the Cavaliers and the Phantom Regiment Drum & Bugle Corps, claiming numerous awards and honors with both organizations during his tenure, and is currently the Music Director and Percussion Coordinator/Designer with the Santa Clara Vanguard.
Currently, Brian is a member of the percussion faculty at Morehead State University in Morehead, KY, and is the director of the award-winning Marching Percussion Ensemble. At MSU, Mr. Mason is a member of the Faculty Jazz Ensemble, the Faculty Chamber Ensemble, and performs regularly with the Faculty Brass Quintet. Off-campus, he is a member of the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra, and appears as a guest artist with many high school percussion ensembles across the country.
Brian received his M.M. at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and is pursuing his D.M.A. at the University of Kentucky, where he received his B.M. He is a member of the Vic Firth Education Committee, the Percussive Arts Society Health and Wellness Committee, and the Percussive Arts Society Marching Percussion Committee. He has published articles in Percussive Notes, has been interviewed in Modern Drummer and Band and Orchestra Magazine, and was a contributing editor for Stick It magazine. Brian co-authored the 2000 Modern Drummer Readers Poll's "No. 1 Drum Set Method Book," The Commandments of R&B Drumming (Warner Brothers), and his original works are published through Row-Loff Productions, Bachovich Music Publications, and Tap Space Publications. Brian proudly endorses Vic Firth sticks and mallets, makers of his signature line of mallets and drumsticks, as well as Zildjian cymbals, Evans drumheads, and Pearl Drums and Adams Musical Instruments.
Randy Max
Randy Max joined the Rotterdam Philharmonic as principal timpanist in 1988. Prior to that he was timpanist and percussionist with the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra and The Orchestra of St. Luke's in New York. He has performed with many ensembles including the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Flemish Radio Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Philharmonia Virtuosi, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony, and San Francisco Symphony, and has performed as soloist with the Amsterdam Percussion Group. He spent two summers as timpanist with the National Repertory Orchestra and attended Tanglewood as a timpani/percussion fellow.
Randy has given masterclasses in the United States, South America, and Europe, and co-presented the Roland Kohloff Memorial Masterclass at PASIC 2006. He earned his undergraduate degree at the St. Louis Conservatory, where he studied with Rick Holmes and John Kasica, and received his Master's Degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Roland Kohloff, Buster Bailey, and Walter Rosenberger. He is the founder of MAXmallets and since 2007 has served as Visiting Professor of Timpani at Trinity College of Music in London. Randy is the author of Orchestral Excerpts for Timpani, with an Audio CD, published by Theodore Presser Company.
Robert McClure
Robert McClure began composing in high school and continued throughout his undergraduate studies at Bowling Green State University while pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education. He completed a Masters Degree in Composition from the University of Arizona where he studied with Daniel Asia and Dr. Craig Walsh. He is currently pursuing a DMA at Rice University where he will serve as the Rice Electronic Music LABS Teaching Assistant under Dr. Kurt Stallmann.
Middle school students ranging to professionals have performed Robert’s music. Notably, the Clyde High School Band, Start High School Orchestra, the Bowling Green State University Percussion Ensemble, the University of Arizona Percussion Ensemble, The Del Mar Percussion Ensemble, the Sonora Winds, the Ironworks Percussion Duo, and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra have performed Robert’s music. He has been commissioned by the University of Arizona Steel Bands, the Catalina Foothills High School Steel Bands, the IronWorks Percussion Duo, and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra.
Robert is published by Tapspace Publications, Purple Frog Press, Innovative Percussion, and Bachovich Music Publications. New publications include ...of the Earth for percussion quartet by Bachovich Music Publications and Integrated Elements No. 2 "Not a Haiku" for multiple percussion solo and pre-recorded sound.
www.robertwmcclure.com
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Brad Meyer
Dr. Brad Meyer (b. 1983) is an international percussion artist and composer with an extensive and diverse teaching background. Currently, Brad is the Director of Percussion Studies at Stephen F. Austin State University (Nacogdoches, TX) where he directs the percussion ensemble and steel band (“Jacks of Steel”). He also teaches the private percussion lessons and percussion methods course at SFA. Dr. Meyer was recently the Visiting Instructor of Music in Percussion/Percussion Ensemble Director at Centre College (Danville, KY) and the Adjunct Professor of Percussion at Tennessee Technological University (Cookeville, TN) during the fall of 2011. Dr. Meyer frequently tours to universities and high schools throughout Southern and Midwestern states presenting recitals, workshops, and clinics on topics such as electro-acoustic percussion, contemporary marimba, concert snare drum, marching percussion, and world music.
Brad completed his Doctorate of Music in Percussion Performance and Pedagogy of Music Theory Certificate in the Spring of 2011 under James Campbell at the University of Kentucky, where he also graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance in 2006. Along with his studies at UK, Brad was the Wildcat Marching Band’s percussion director, UK Steel Band/Blue Steel coordinator, and percussion studio lesson instructor. He received his Master of Music Performance Degree under the direction of Dr. Scott Herring at the University of South Carolina, where he ran the Palmetto Pans, the USC drumline, and debuted his first percussion ensemble composition, Your Three Favorite Colors.
Recently, he was the pit manager for the Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps in 2010 and was the front ensemble caption head of the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps in 2009, where he was as a front ensemble technician for the two years prior. His extensive training in world music, particularly on the Caribbean steel pan, Korean P’ungmul, mbira (Zimbabwe finger piano), Joropo maracas, and both Javanese and Balinese gamelan has provided a global perspective for his performances and research areas. From 2002-2005, Dr. Meyer was a part of The Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps’ front ensemble, where he accumulated one world championship, three “high-drum” trophies, and three “outstanding service” awards. Brad is a proud endorsee of Yamaha Instruments, Vic Firth Stick and Mallets, Evans Drumheads, and Tycoon Percussion. For more information about Dr. Meyer, please visit his website at http://www.Brad-Meyer.com
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Rolando Morales-Matos
Rolando Morales-Matos is a well sought after Latin, Jazz, and Classical percussionist. He is a member of Ron Carter Foursight Quartet, a percussionist and an Assistant Conductor of the Broadway musical The Lion King in New York City, and frequently plays with The Philadelphia Orchestra as an extra percussionist. He has performed and/or recorded with artists and groups such as Paquito D'Rivera, Dave Samuels, Dave Valentine, Celine Dion, Michael Bolton, Nexus Percussion Group, The Birdland Big Band, among others. He has recorded movie sound tracks including Failure To Launch, The Pink Panther and appears playing on screen in the Disney filmEnchanted. In 2006, Rolando was the recipient of Drum Magazine's World Beat Percussionist of the Year Award. Rolando has developed unique vocabularies of playing melodies on non-pitched instruments such as drums, cowbells, cymbals, and more. In 2008, he released his solo album "From The Earth" featuring the Hang Drum.
Before arriving in New York City, Rolando has been the Principle Percussionist with Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia in Spain, the Guest Principle Timpanist with New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and frequently performed with Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra and Pittsburgh Symphony as an extra percussionist. He has also toured the Carribian, the United States, and Europe with many salsa and popular bands.
Rolando Morales-Matos is a faculty member at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in NYC and New Jersey City University and gives clinics and master classes at many universities. He has given clinics at PASIC in 1999, 2001, and 2003.
Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Percussionist Rolando Morales-Matos began his musical studies at the prestigious high school for the performing arts, Escuela Libre de Música and started touring with the popular artist at the age of 15. He moved to the States and received his Bachelor's degree in Classical Percussion Performance from Carnegie Mellon University, Master's degree from Duquesne University, and Certificate of Professional Studies from Temple University.
Rolando Morales-Matos endorses Pearl Drums and Adams Musical Instruments, Zildjian cymbals, Vic Firth sticks, and Evans drumheads.
Jeremy Muller
Jeremy Muller is a contemporary percussionist often performing as a soloist and chamber musician throughout North America. He is dedicated to exploring new aesthetics of music by collaborating with performers, composers, and experimental artists. Jeremy has worked with the world-renowned Percussion Group Cincinnati, Phoenix's premier contemporary music ensemble Crossing 32nd Street, the New Paradigm Percussion Quartet, and composers like Stuart Saunders Smith and Alexandre Lunsqui. An ongoing project of Jeremy's is the continual development and experimentation of the music of virtuosic maraca traditions as well as the Brazilian caxixí, and other subtle means of texture and sound. As a composer and arranger, he has written many chamber works and arrangements for solo and large ensembles.
Jeremy is adjunct faculty with Paradise Valley and Glendale Community Colleges in Phoenix, and currently a Doctoral candidate at Arizona State University. Prior to ASU, he earned his MM from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and BM from Appalachian State, both in percussion performance while studying under Allen Otte, Jim Culley, and Rob Falvo.
Tom Nazziola
A graduate of the Eastman School of Music (with high distinction), Tom Nazziola is an accomplished composer, orchestrator and performer. As a composer he has been commissioned by several organizations including the American Composer’s Forum, Lincoln Center Film Society, NJ Youth Symphony, Museum of the Moving Image (NYC) and the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts. He has composed for several national and international TV programs including Dateline NBC, CBS News, MTV, BET and ESPN. His orchestrations include Edward MacDowell’s “Woodland Sketches” which were performed by the New York Philharmonic as part of a concert featuring Garrison Keillor. He has also orchestrated music for the US Open 2005 and 2007 opening ceremonies. In the area of film music, Nazziola is the musical director and composer for The BQE Project – a New York City-based chamber ensemble that performs new music to silent films and early classics.
As a percussionist / drummer, Nazziola has performed with the following Jazz luminaries: Michael Brecker, Wynton Marsalis, Dave Liebman, Rufus Reid, Bob Brookmeyer, Terrance Blanchard, George Russell and Jeff Beal. He has recorded on over 50 CDs as a percussionist and/or keyboardist and is the driving performer behind Disney’s Baby Einstein DVDs/CDs.
Loretta Notareschi
Loretta K. Notareschi explores the passionate, irreverent, and transcendent in her many compositions for chamber ensemble, large ensemble, and chorus. Born in Canton, Ohio and raised in Stillwater, Oklahoma, she has received awards from the IronWorks Percussion Duo, the American Composers Forum, Ensemble Eleven, and the GALA Choruses. Her music has been performed in Manchester, England; in New York City at Symphony Space and the Paul Recital Hall in Lincoln Center; and in other cities across the U.S., including Denver, where she makes her home.
Recent commissions include new works for the Mountain Music Duo (Denver), the Colorado State Music Teachers Association, Melody of China (San Francisco), the Sacred and Profane Chamber Chorus (Berkeley), the Napa Valley Youth Symphony, and the Sacramento Youth Symphony Chamber Music Workshop. Other commissions have come from the PRISM Saxophone Quartet, the Rivers Music School Brass Ensemble, clarinetist Peter Josheff, the Calliope Duo, Clogs, Nathan Davis of the ensemble Non Sequitur, the yesaroun' DUO, Ensemble Eleven, percussionists Yousif Sheronick and Joseph Gramley, and former sopranist Zachary Gordin.
Notareschi is an assistant professor of music at Regis University and a faculty member of The Walden School. She is also a member of ASCAP, the Amercian Composers Forum, and the American Music Center. She holds a Masters and PhD in composition from the University of California at Berkeley, a Bachelor of Music in composition from the University of Southern California, and the General Diploma from the Zoltàn Kodàly Pedagogical Institute of Music in Kecskemèt, Hungary, where she was a Fulbright Scholar. Her primary teachers in composition have been Morten Lauridsen, Erica Muhl, Rick Lesemann, Cindy Cox, and Jorge Liderman.
Dr. Nicholas Papador
Dr. Nicholas Papador is Assistant Professor of Percussion at the University of Windsor. An active performer specializing in contemporary music, he is a founding member of Marassa Duo and Noiseborder Ensemble, and was featured as an on screen performer in Matthew Barney's KHU, act 2 of his seven part film/opera, Ancient Evenings. He has received grants from the Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, Social Sciences Humanities Research Council, and Canada Foundation for Innovation. Papador is an artist endorser for Vic Firth, Sabian, and Yamaha. He has presented several times at PASIC and is the president of the PAS Ontario Chapter.
Joe Pastor
Joseph Pastor earned a Bachelor of Music degree in jazz percussion from Southern Illinois University in 2000. Since then his career has been as varied as his interests in music are. One night he may be playing jazz vibraphone, the next night he could be found in a musical theater orchestra, or playing for an ensemble such as the St. Louis Philharmonic, or as a blues drummer, or playing bass guitar for a rock band. He has recorded with Rock 'n' Roll Hall of fame inductee Johnnie Johnson, with Juno Award winner Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne, as well as with St. Louis blues legends Bennie Smith, Rich McDonough, and the wunderkind bluesman Marquis Knox. Mr. Pastor has also toured with some of the above mentioned as well as with New Orleans harmonica player Rockin' Jake, international pop artist Javier Mendoza and others. In 2002 Joe held the position of drummer with the Legends In Concert show in Branson MO.
Joe stays busy as a music educator as well, seeing on average 25 students weekly as well as being on the staff at DeSmet Jesuit High School, the Webster Community Music School and Washington University in St. Louis
In the past several years Joe's compositions have been performed by the ensembles at Webster University, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Missouri, and Southern Illinois University as well as in a handful of high school programs. Mr. Pastor is looking forward to the upcoming premiers of some of his works by the percussion trio Axiom. He is immersed in concert music, having begun his college years as a classical music major, and as a former member of the prestigious St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra while studying timpani with Rick Holmes and percussion with Tom Stubbs, both of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Joe Pastor's ideal in composition is to write contemporary music containing original thought while managing not to alienate the listener. This doesn't mean to dumb down the music, just to write things that regular people can grasp. Influences are drawn not just from the greats of the past, but also from recent composers such as Krystov Penderecki, Gordon Stout, Joseph Schwantner, Steven Mackey, Alberto Ginastera and Bela Bartok, to name a few.
Duncan Patton
Duncan Patton has been a Principal Timpanist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 1984. Mr. Patton has performed with the MET Orchestra on tour in Europe, Japan, across the U.S., and in New York's Carnegie Hall. He can be heard on radio, television, and HD live movie broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera, as well as on recordings on Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, and Decca. He has also performed or recorded with the New York Philharmonic, the Orchestra of St. Lukes, the Met Chamber Ensemble, the Metropolitan Opera Brass, the Percussionists of the Metropolitan Opera, the Canadian Brass, and in a duo with marimbist Mayumi Sekizawa, among others. He is a Co-Chair of the percussion department at the Manhattan School of Music, where many of his students have gone on to positions with major orchestras and other prominent ensembles. He has presented masterclasses at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the Oberlin Percussion Institute, the International Week of Percussion in Mexico City, and the Tokyo College of Music. His articles on timpani performance have been published in Percussive Notes magazine. He is also a composer of works for percussion, often exploring the use of timpani in solo or chamber music settings.
Prior to joining the Met he served as principal timpanist of the Honolulu Symphony and performed with the Colorado Philharmonic and the Albany Symphony. An Albany, New York, native, he is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, and was a student of Richard Albagli, Roland Kohloff, and John Beck.
Glenn Paulson
Glenn Paulson received his Bachelor's degree from The Eastman School of Music and his Master's degree from The Juilliard School. He is currently a percussionist with "The President's Own" United States Marine Band. Glenn is a former timpanist for the Barcelona Symphony, and has also performed with The New York Philharmonic, The New Jersey Symphony, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The Royal Ballet, the EOS Chamber Orchestra, and The American Symphony, among others. He has also performed in many Broadway shows including The King and I, As the World Goes 'Round, Falsettoland, and The Music of Andrew Lloyd Weber.
In the past year he has presented numerous master classes at both the Percussive Arts Society International convention and various days of percussion on how the Marine Band percussion section plays marches by John Phillip Sousa. He is a member of the Percussive Arts Society Symphonic Committee and will be performing at the 2010 PAS convention with the Mallet All-Stars.
Joe Pereira
Joseph Pereira was appointed principal timpanist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, by Esa-Pekka Salonen in 2007. Before this, he was the Assistant Principal Timpanist/Section Percussionist of the New York Philharmonic from January 1998 to September 2008. Pereira received his master's degree in percussion from The Juilliard School where he has also been on faculty since 2005. He received a double bachelor's degree in performance as well as composition/theory from Boston University. He is currently also very active as a composer.
Anthony Tommasini featured Pereira's work as a composer and percussionist in The New York Times in 2006. In 2007, his first orchestral piece, Mask, was selected by the American Composers Orchestra annual new-music readings for top emerging composers. He conducted the premiere of his Quintet for Winds in 2005 as part of the New York Philharmonic Ensembles series at Merkin Concert Hall. The New York Times said, "it is a restless yet lucidly textured work with an astringent harmonic language." Pereira's Conversation for Solo Flute was selected by Linda Witherell, (original solo flutist with IRCAM) in an international "Call for Scores" through the American Music Center. In 2011 his Violin Partita was recorded for Yarlung Records and his quartet Repousse', for all metal percussion was recorded for Sono Luminous. He is currently working on a commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, a percussion concerto for Collin Currie, to be premiered May, 2012 with Gustavo Dudamel. His quartet for amplified double bases will also be premiered on the LA Philharmonics 2012 season. All of his percussion music is published by Bachovich Music Publications.
Pereira has also performed with the New York Percussion Quartet, the New York New Music Ensemble, Alea III, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Robert Shaw Festival Singers, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, as principal timpanist in the latter. He can also be heard on Telarc, Teldec, and Deutsche Grammophon recordings. He is an alumnus of the Tanglewood Festival and of the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan.
Ted Piltzecker
Along with his formal training (Warren Benson and Ray Wright at the Eastman School, and Michael Gibbs at the Manhattan School) Ted’s music is influenced by a wide variety of sources that include a lifetime of jazz and classical music, frequent excursions to lands with cultural traditions different than his own, and a keen interest in the compositional structure of other art forms. His music has been played in eclectic venues in festivals around the world from Finland to Philly, where the Philadelphia Orchestra recently performed some of his chamber music. Ted has been in residence at the McDowell Colony and the Millay Colony for the arts in composition.
James Preiss
James Preiss is principal percussionist of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the American Composers Orchestra, the Westchester Philharmonic, and the Riverside Symphony and also performs regularly with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the American Symphony Orchestra. A founding member of the Parnassus Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, he has been a member of the Steve Reich Ensemble since 1971. He has recorded on many labels, including the Deutsche Grammophon, ECM, and Nonesuch.
Mr. Preiss holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Manhattan School of Music. He is also on the faculty of the Mannes College of Music.
Manhattan School of Music faculty from 1970 –2006.
Deane Prouty
New York City freelance Percussionist Deane Prouty holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance from the University of Lowell, (University of Massachusetts), and Professional Studies program at The Juilliard School. He has been on the Faculty of the University of Lowell Pre-College Division, The Utah Music Festival, and the prestigious Hoff-Barthelson Music School in Scarsdale, NY. He has taught Master Classes Nationally and Internationally at the Eastman School of Music, the Festival Internacional de Music Cabrils, Spain, and the Utah Music Festival. He holds two Patents of invention from the US government and is listed in Who’s Who of American Inventors.
He has performed with numerous orchestras including the American Symphony, the American Composers Orchestra, The American Ballet Theater, The Joffrey Ballet, The Orchestra of St. Lukes, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, The Dance Theater of Harlem, The Mid-Atlantic Chamber Orchestra, The Brooklyn Philharmonic, The Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, The United Nations Symphony Orchestra, The Symphony of Long Island, Galatea and The Radio City Music Hall Orchestra.
On Broadway, he has been a Percussionist for more then twenty shows including, Les Miserables, Light in the Piazza, Beauty and the Beast, Spamalot, Annie, Follies, Hairspray, Annie Get Your Gun, Secret Garden, Man of La Mancha, Song and Dance, Into the Woods, Grind, and Singing in the Rain. He spent seven years touring with the National Productions of Fiddler on the Roof, Music of the Night, West Side Story, Annie, and Beauty and the Beast, and has played in over 120 Cities in the US, Canada, and Europe.
He is a specialist in Early Music performance on Baroque Timpani, and has performed at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Boston’s Symphony Hall, New York’s Lincoln Center, and other major concert halls with Grande Bande, The New York Early Music Foundation, The Handel & Haydn Society, New York Kammermusiker, The Clarion Ensemble, The Oslo Baroque Soloists, Concert Royale, Vox Ama Deus, Newport Baroque, The Connecticut Early Music Festival, Amor Artis, and The American Classical Orchestra.
He has been a Percussionist for Melissa Manchester, Nell Carter, Bernadette Peters, Joel Grey, Vic Damone, Tony Bennett, Jane Olivor, Bobby Day, The Coasters, and Robert Goulet, and has recorded for CBS Records, Sony Classical, Musical Heritage, Delos, Dorian, Angel, New World Records, and Premier, and can be heard as Percussionist on the Grammy Award winning recording of “GYPSY” with Bernadette Peters.
He is one of only a handful of musicians worldwide who perform on Deagan Novelty instruments, including the Organ Chimes (Shaker Chimes), Saucer Bells, Steel Marimbaphone, Marimbaphone, Aluminum Harp, Una-Fon, and Tuned Sleighbells.
Pablo Rieppi
The Houston Chronicle wrote, “PABLO RIEPPI sparked a lot of buzz at intermission with his ability…he was rock solid no matter what position he had to contort into to play.” A native of Uruguay, Pablo is a highly sought-after musician in New York City, where he performs a wide range of music with some of the world’s leading artists. Pablo can be seen performing with The New York Philharmonic, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and The American Symphony Orchestra. Pablo performs with many other classical, new music, pop and world music groups including Gotham Symphony Orchestra (principal), Speculum Musicae, The Gotham Chamber Opera, The New York New Music Ensemble, DaCapo Chamber Players, Ensemble 21, and the Perspectives Ensemble (principal). He is a member of the Grammy-nominated Absolute Ensemble, the internationally acclaimed multimedia collective VisionIntoArt (percussionist, music director and composer), The New York Percussion Quartet, Columbia Sinfonietta, Dagmar and Weimarband, and performs around the world in renowned concert halls with numerous ensembles.
Pablo has performed or collaborated with some of the world’s greatest maestros such as Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin Davis, David Robertson, Loren Maazel, Riccardo Muti and Kurt Mazur, as well as with such world, jazz, rock and RandB luminaries as Joe Zawinul, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Paquito D’Rivera, Roger Daltrey, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Mike Keneally and Dhafer Youssef.
As a soloist, Pablo has premiered several percussion works at The Riverside Church of New York‘s “Chapel Chamber Music Series”. Pablo has performed in the Broadway orchestras of Beauty and the Beast, The King and I, The Sound of Music, Swan Lake, Oklahoma, Nine, Dance of the Vampires, Thoroughly Modern Milly, The Frogs, Pacific Overatures, Little Women, Lestat and Fosse. He is currently the percussionist in Legally Blonde The Musical on Broadway. Pablo has recorded numerous film scores (including The Brave One, The Good Shepherd, Cassanova and You’ve Got Mail among others), television ads and new compositions with several ensembles.
As a composer he has written music for the soundtrack of Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story, which won numerous prizes at several film festivals. His percussion and electronics piece “Rage and Peace” was performed by the New York University Percussion Ensemble. Three of his arrangements were performed by VisionIntoArt on a recent tour of Italy.
Pablo is professor of music at Columbia University and Hofstra University, where he teaches privately and is director of the percussion ensemble. He is a teaching artist for The Lyric Chamber Music Society of New York and The American Composers Orchestra. He has a Masters Degree and Professional Studies Certificate from The Juilliard School, and a Bachelors degree from George Mason University.
His new book Snare Drum Technique: Essential Basics for Daily Practice is now available through Bachovich Music Publications. Pablo proudly endorses Sabian Cymbals.
Luis Rivera
Dr. Luis C. Rivera (b. 1983) is originally from Orlando, where he received his Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of Central Florida, under the direction of Jeff Moore and Kirk Gay. While at UCF, Dr. Rivera was a Presser Foundation Scholar and winner of the UCF Music Department’s Performance Excellence Competition (2004). He holds a Master’s degree in Music Performance from the University of South Carolina, under the direction of Dr. Scott Herring and Jim Hall where he was a graduate teaching assistant, director of the Palmetto Pans Steel Drum Ensemble, and winner of the USC Concerto Competition, performing Emmanuel Séjourné’s Concerto pour Vibraphone et Orchestre à Cordes. Most recently, Luis received the Doctor of Music degree in Percussion Performance at the Florida State University, studying under Dr. John W. Parks IV, where he was a recipient of the McKnight Doctoral Fellowship. Currently, Dr. Rivera serves as the Interim Director of Percussion Studies at the University of South Alabama teaching applied lessons, percussion ensemble, the Jaguar Marching Band Drumline, the USA Steel Band and World Music ensembles, and percussion methods.
The last year has proven to be one of Dr. Rivera's most inspired as an arranger and orchestrator for the percussion ensemble medium. As part of the FSU Percussion Ensemble, he was selected to perform on a national tour and showcase concert at the 2011 Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) in Indianapolis, IN. Two of the selections on the program were his arrangements of Maurice Ravel's, The Fairy Garden from The Mother Goose Suite (1911), and The First Circle (1981) by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays. In addition, his doctoral treatise focused on the re-orchestration of chamber works for the modern percussion ensemble by minimalist composers Philip Glass, John Adams, and Steve Reich, specifically Metamorphoses 1-5 (1988), Phrygian Gates (1977), and Eight Lines (1979, 1983), respectively. Entire performances of Phrygian Gates and Eight Lines were premiered with the FSU Percussion Ensemble during the spring semester of 2012.
Outside of the classroom, Dr. Rivera has been an active performer and educator in each community he has lived. Currently, he is a section performer with the Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra as well as a marching percussion adjudicator in the Gulf Coast marching band and indoor drumline circuit. He was the Percussion Caption Head and Arranger at Lake Howell High School in Winter Park, FL, a percussionist at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, a snare drummer for the Orlando Magic Rhythm and Blue Drumline, a section percussionist with the Brevard Symphony and Tallahassee Symphony Orchestras, a performer with the Pantasia Steel Band, a musician for the FSU Fallon School of Theater, an instructor for the FSU Marching Chiefs Big 8 Drumline, a recording artist on several albums at the FSU Percussion Studio, and has also had the opportunity of performing with world-renowned percussionist, Dame Evelyn Glennie in Killarney, Ireland. In 2009, Luis helped found the Denkyem Percussion Group at FSU, a percussion sextet that performed at the College Music Society's Southeastern Conference (2010) in New Orleans, as well as performing a series of master classes, clinics, and concerts as part of FSU's Promising New Artists of the 21st Century Program in San Jose, Costa Rica during the spring of 2010.
Luis has also been involved with Drum Corps International (DCI) since 2002. He was the Center Snare and Section Leader with the Magic of Orlando Drum and Bugle Corps (2002-2003) - under the direction of John Campese, Michael Scialabba, and Tom Hurst - and the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps (2004), under the direction of Colin McNutt, Brian Tinkel, and Iain Moyer. He served as a snare drum technician with the Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps (2005-2006), and as a snare drum technician and marching instructor with the Boston Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps (2007-2011).
www.luisriverapercussion.com
Peter J Saleh
Peter Saleh is active as a percussionist and educator in the NY/NJ area. He is a founding member and resident composer/arranger of New Jersey's own Exit 9 Percussion Group having performed hundreds of concerts and clinics with the group since 2002 including performances on both US coasts and tours in Asia. His notable performances include Princeton's McCarter Theater, The Juilliard School, NYC's 2010 Weekend of Percussion, NJ's George Street Playhouse, Dallas' Bass Hall, FringeNYC, and the NY Musical Festival, as well as a solo recital/clinic series in Taiwan and Korea in 2009. He has subbed regularly for the New World Stages production of Avenue Q in NYC, performed and recorded under Eugene Corporon with the North Texas Wind Symphony, and also performed with the Monmouth and Plainfield Symphonies, the Bravura Philharmonic, the Greenwich Village Singers, Philadelphia's Center City Opera Theater, performance artist Matthew Barney, and marimbist Simon Boyar, and premiered works by Bruce Hamilton, Da Jeong Choi, and Mark Zuckerman.
Saleh's scores for percussion, published by four companies, have been performed throughout the country, and his work ExitIX Novum won second place in the 2007 Percussive Arts Society Composition Contest. As an educator, Saleh works with percussionists and drummers of all ages and has placed his students into some of the best conservatory and university music programs in the country as well as several 1st chair and ranking NJMEA All-State positions, guest-lectured at Western Washington University, Rutgers University, UDel, and the Juilliard pre-college, fellowed at the University of North Texas, and has served as a teaching artist for NJPAC, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Young Audiences of NJ. He serves as an adjunct Professor of Percussion at the College of St. Elizabeth in Morristown, NJ, is on faculty at the Youth Orchestra of Central Jersey as percussion coach, and at the Mason Gross School of the Arts Extension Division where he founded and directs the Rutgers Youth Percussion Ensemble.
In the world of modern dance, he has collaborated with and scored work for choreographers Christian Von Howard, Raegan Wood, Paulette Sears, Julia Ritter, and Ronnie Carney and performed and presented original work at Dance Theater Workshop, ACDFA, the Aliey Citigroup Theater, the Joffrey School, NJPAC, and at the Rutgers series DancePlus. He is resident composer with the Von Howard Project and is also a faculty member at the renowned dance conservatory at SUNY Purchase College where he teaches music and rhythmic skills to dancers.
Peter Saleh holds degrees from Rutgers University and the University of North Texas and has studied with Christopher Deane, Mark Ford, Tommy Igoe, Dr. Joseph Klein, Dr. Robert Schietroma, Ed Soph, and She-e Wu. Peter is a member of AFM Local 802, BMI, and PAS, and is a Regional Educational Artist for Pearl/Adams.
Mayumi Sekizawa
A native of Japan, Mayumi Sekizawa is a marimbist who has performed as a soloist across the United States, France, Germany, Austria, China, Belgium and Japan. She has won many national and international solo competitions, including the first prize at the 1994 Classical Music Competition (Japan), Manhattan School of Music Concerto Competition in 1998(USA), the first prize Grace Woodson Memorial Award of the Houston Symphony National Young Artist Competition in 2000 (USA), the third prize of the International Marimba Competition in 2001(Belgium) and IBLA Grand Prize Marimba Special Mention Award in 2003 (Italy).
In 1994, Ms. Sekizawa was invited to perform for the Imperial Family in Japan. She made her concerto debut with the Houston Symphony Orchestra in 2000, which earned critical acclaim. In 2004, she performed at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall in New York. She has appeared in concerts of many music festivals, including Centre Acanthes 2000/Ircam (France) and International Festival for New Music in Darmstadt 2002(Germany). She was invited to International Marimba Festival in Belgium 2004 where she gave her solo recital. Ms. Sekizawa released her first CD “My Favorite Thing” from Aurora Classical in 2005.
Ms. Sekizawa received both her bachelor and master’s degrees in marimba from the Musashino College of Music, Japan. She also holds a master’s degree and professional studies certificate in percussion from the Manhattan School of Music.
Mayumi Sekizawa Official Website: www.mayumisekizawa.com
Ju Ri Seo
Composer and pianist Ju Ri Seo seeks to unite the traditional and experimental through unconventional orchestrations and composed resonance, where the way notes die away is as important as their presence. A zealous admirer of Beethoven and Chopin, she merges her love of classical music and her fascination with twentieth-century innovations in acoustics and structural principles, and now works in both traditional and post-tonal idioms. She has been invited to the Tanglewood, Bang on a Can and SoundSCAPE music festivals, and has presented at the SCI and SEAMUS conferences. She will spend 2012 in Italy under the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship. She is a DMA candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she studies with Reynold Tharp and Scott Wyatt.
For more information about composer Ju Ri Seo, visit: www.juriseomusic.com
Shane Shanahan
Shane Shanahan has cultivated his own unique and highly sought after sound by combining his studies of drumming traditions from around the world with his background in jazz, rock and Western art music. His interest in other cultures has lead to extended visits to Turkey, India, and Tajikistan, among others. Shane's rare set of diverse skills is what attracted Yo-Yo Ma when he was forming the Silk Road Ensemble. In the summer of 2000, Shane was invited to Tanglewood where he played an important role in the formation of the group. Ever since, he has been touring around the globe performing side-by-side with Mr. Ma as an original member of the award-winning Silk Road Ensemble. Shane's playing can be heard on all three of the ensemble's top-selling recordings for the SonyBMG label and the two most recent albums feature his arranging skills, as well. These arrangements have brought ecstatic audience to their feet in the top concert halls of North America, Europe and Asia. Shane can also be seen and heard on Mr. Ma's Grammy Award winning holiday CD/DVD release"Songs of Joy."
He is also a member of frame drum master Glen Velez' Handance Ensemble and cellist Maya Beiser's Provenance project. He has performed and/or recorded with Philip Glass, Alison Krause, Sonny Fortune, Fantasia, Chaka Khan, G. E. Smith, Simon Shaheen, Jamey Haddad, Cyro Baptista, Anindo Chaterjee, Sandeep Das, Shahram and Hafez Nazeri, Alim Qasimov, Kayhan Kalhor, Howard Levy and Steve Gorn, among others.
During the 2009-2010 season, Shane co-curated a 40 week concert series at The Museum of Natural History for the Traveling the Silk Road Exhibit. He was also highly involved in The Bridge Project, a three year trans-Atlantic partnership uniting The Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Old Vic Theatre of London, and Neal Street Productions. Shane was one of two featured musician in Shakespeare's "As You Like It" and "The Tempest," directed by Oscar winner Sam Mendes ("American Beauty"/"Road to Perdition.") After two months of performances in New York, the production commenced an extensive tour of Asia and Europe.
Shane has been seen/heard on TV and radio throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, including appearances on David Letterman, Good Morning America, the National Geographic Channel, NPR, PBS, NHK, and The Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics in Shanghai. Shane has presented workshops and clinics in many of the world's top universities, including Harvard, Princeton, Northwestern, New York University, UC Santa Barbara and the Rhode Island School of Design. He has also performed and created outreach programs for many world-class museums, such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Museums of Japan in Kyushu and Nara, the British Library in London, the Rietberg Museum in Zurich and the Ruben Museum of Himalayan Art in New York.
In the spring of 2000, Shane was the director of the percussion department at The Hartt School, University of Hartford. In the fall of 2006, he was a Guest Artist in Residence at the Hartt School, focusing on multi-cultural hand drumming. This residency culminated in a student concert consisting entirely of Shane's compositions and arrangements. He will return to Hartt for both semesters of 2011. He has also taught at the Amherst Early Music Festival and as one of Lincoln Center's Meet the Artist performers. He received his Bachelor's Degree and prestigious Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music and his Master's Degree from The Hartt School.
Yousif Sheronick
Hailed by the New York Times for his "dazzling improvisations" YOUSIF SHERONICK appears internationally as soloist and chamber musician with world-renowned groups and artists such as Philip Glass, Ethos Percussion Group, Glen Velez, Foday Musa Suso, Simon Shaheen, Henry Threadgill, Lark Chamber Artists and Paul Winter Consort. /duoJalal/ is his most recent venture with violist and wife Kathryn Lockwood. Sheronick's unique style encompasses traditions and instruments from the Middle East, North and West Africa, Brazil, India, and Europe. His ability to work in such diverse genres is due to having studied contemporary classical, jazz, world and rock music, which he seamlessly fuses into his playing. Critics say Yousif "is capable of creating hypnotic atmospheres" (Mundoclasico) where he "transported the listener to another dimension." (Ritmic). Prestigious venue performances include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Royal Festival Hall (London) and Wigmore Hall (London). Distinguished collaborators include Yo-Yo Ma, Branford Marsalis, Pandit Samir Chatterjee, Marcel Khalife, Sonny Fortune and Cindy Blackman.
Modern Drummer Magazine calls Mr. Sheronick's critically acclaimed solo CD titled /Silk Thread / "a testimony to his genius". He also released a Riq Instructional DVD which Rhythm Magazine (UK) says "is a must to uncover the mysteries of this ancient instrument." He has appeared throughout the US, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia with festival appearances including the JVC and Newport Jazz Festivals, Jazztel (Madrid), Renaissance Festival (Rethymno, Greece) Early Music Festival (Regensburg, Germany) and Jerusalem Festival (Palestine). He has performed live on NPR's "Performance Today" and John Schaffer's "New Sounds." An active clinician, Mr. Sheronick teaches masterclasses at home in the US and abroad. Mr. Sheronick holds degrees from Yale University and the University of Iowa, is artist in residence with Ethos Percussion Group at Lehman College (Bronx, NY) and is currently teaching at Lafayette College (Easton PA) and presenting a series of master classes at Manhattan School of Music.
Tom Sherwood
Tom Sherwood is the Principal Percussionist of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. A native of Fairfax, Virginia, his musical career began at a young age when he discovered his father’s old drum set packed away in the garage. He graduated with his Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. A student of Tom Siwe, he was the youngest recipient of the Edgard Varese Memorial Scholarship. He went on to earn his Master of Music from Temple University, where he studied with Alan Abel (former Associate Principal Percussionist of the Philadelphia Orchestra). Tom made his solo debut with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in the 2004-2005 season, performing Tan Dun’s Concerto for Water Percussion and Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Robert Spano. For the past 8 years, Tom has also been regularly performing at the Grand Teton Music Festival. He can be heard with the ASO on Telarc and Deutsche Grammophon recordings.
In addition to his work with the orchestra, Tom is also the Artistic Director and percussionist for Sonic Generator, a contemporary chamber ensemble specializing in the performance of electro acoustic music.
Since 2008, Tom has been the director of the Modern Snare Drum Competition. An annual event hosted by the ASO, this unique competition attracts students from all over the country and has led to the creation of almost a dozen new works for the snare drum.
Prior to joining the ASO, he was a member of the prestigious New World Symphony, under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. An active teacher and clinician, Tom has presented master classes at Oberlin Conservatory, Columbus State University and the Northwestern Percussion Symposium, as well as the 2001 and 2003 Percussive Arts Society International Conventions. Tom is an endorser of Pearl Drums, Adams Musical Instruments, Freer Percussion, and Zildjian.
Jared Soldiviero
Jared Soldiviero (b. 1980) is an active freelance percussionist in New York City. While a majority of his work is centered around contemporary chamber music, he has performed in many different settings, including orchestral, microtonal, early music and Broadway. As an inaugural member of The Academy at Carnegie Hall, Jared appears frequently with Ensemble ACJW and taught in New York City public schools. In addition, he has appeared with Newband, Continuum, New York Philomusica and Speculum Musicae. As an orchestral musician, Jared has performed with the orchestras of Springfield, Vermont, Stamford and Albany.
Jared spent four summers at the Lucerne Festival, where he was a founding member of the Lucerne Festival Percussion Group: twelve percussionists from around the world who have expanded the repertoire for large percussion ensemble by performing nearly a dozen world premieres, as well as taking part in performances of Varese, Stockhausen, Rihm and others. Their work at Lucerne complete, they are now known as Ensemble XII.
As a conductor, Jared has led the Juilliard Percussion Ensemble, Flexible Music, Ensemble ACJW and ACME. He received Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School.
Samuel Solomon
Percussionist Samuel Z. Solomon currently teaches percussion at The Boston Conservatory, Boston University, and The BU Tanglewood Institute, and is the President of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society. His book, "How to Write for Percussion," has received critical acclaim from composers, performers, and conductors worldwide and will soon be available in three languages. He has also authored three books on percussion playing and curated two collections of percussion etudes and solos. Solomon is founding member of the Yesaroun' Duo and the Line C3 percussion group, from 2005-2010 he was percussionist-in-residence at Harvard University, and since 2003 he has been principal timpanist of the Amici New York chamber orchestra. He can be heard as soloist and chamber musician on GM, Albany, Bedroom Community, and Tzadik labels, as well as performing the music of Björk on her soundtrack to Matthew Barney's film "Drawing Restraint 9". He lives in Hull, Massachusetts with his wife Kristy and son Nicolas. Please visit www.szsolomon.com for more.
Ralph Sorrentino
Ralph Sorrentino is Principal Percussionist of the Opera Company of Philadelphia, and he is Section Percussionist with the Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra. Ralph serves as a substitute percussionist with The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He is Principal Percussionist of the Bay-Atlantic Symphony and Principal Percussionist of Symphony in C. Ralph has also performed with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, Orchestra 2001, the New World, Delaware, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Kennett and Reading Symphonies, Ocean City Pops and Opera Delaware.
Ralph, along with flutist Sophia Anastasia, is a founding member of Electrum Duo. The Duo's November 2008 New York City debut at Bargemusic was favorably reviewed in the December 1, 2008 edition of The New York Times. Music critic Steve Smith commented that "the Electrum players were persuasive advocates: Ms. Anastasia played with brightness and vigor, while Mr. Sorrentino pattered across drums, cymbals and woodblocks with an impressive feeling of flow." Mr. Smith continued to say "the playing had an air of conversational spontaneity; each performer seemed to finish the other's statements now and then...[Ms. Anastasia's] vitality was neatly balanced by the graceful efficiency with which Mr. Sorrentino choreographed his manifold tasks throughout the evening. Perhaps it was the ability to play against type that made these players cohere so effectively." Electrum Duo has presented recitals in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Virginia.
As a solo artist, Ralph gave the 2003 world premier performance of Robert Maggio's Songs from the Wood (for solo marimba) after playing an integral role in the commission and development of the work. Ralph has recorded percussion tracks for NFL Films, including music that was heard on the national television broadcasts of Super Bowls XL through XLVI. Ralph's recordings can be heard on the Ondine, Bridge, Telarc and Innova record labels.
Ralph is Assistant Professor of Percussion at West Chester University. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Immaculata University.
Ralph holds an M.M. in Orchestral Performance from Temple University, as well as a B.M. in Music Performance and a B.S. in Music Education from West Chester University.
Danny Soulier
Danny Soulier received his bachelor's degree in percussion performance from the University of Utah in 2003 and a master's degree in percussion performance from Cleveland State University in 2006.
His professional experience includes performances with the Utah Symphony, New World Symphony (FL), Sun Valley (ID) Summer Symphony, Wheeling (WV) Symphony, Ashland (OH) Symphony, Ohio Valley Symphony, Midland/Odessa (TX) Symphony, Ballet West, and the Utah Chamber Artists. He has studied privately with George Brown, Doug Wolf, Tom Freer, Matthew Bassett, Tim Adams, and Mike Crusoe respectively of the Utah, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Seattle Symphonies. He has performed under the baton of Keith Lockhart, Pavel Kogan, Thierry Fischer, Craig Jessop, Mack Wilberg, Richard Kaufman, Marvin Hamlisch, and Erich Kunzel.
Since 2000, he has performed regularly with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as a member of the Orchestra at Temple Square as principal timpanist and also a member of the percussion section. This service has provided opportunities to perform with world renowned artists such as Evelyn Glennie, Bryn Terfel, Sissel, The King Singers, Fredricka von Stade, Audra MacDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Denyce Graves, Richard Stolzman, and Glady's Knight.
He is an active freelance musician, clinician, and private instructor. He has been a drumline instructor at Bingham High School, Copperhills High School, Lone Peak High School, and Westlake (OH) High School. In 2002 he was the associate drumline instructor at the University of Utah and in 2007 the director the BYU drumline. In the spring of 2007 Mr. Soulier began as the founding director of "HYPE"- the Honors Youth Percussion Ensemble for high school students at the University of Utah. HYPE performs annually at the Utah Day of Percussion and “An Evening of Percussion” at the University of Utah.
Larry Spivack
Larry Spivack is a percussionist, composer and arranger living in New York City. Born in Brooklyn in 1954, he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Brooklyn College, where his principal teacher was Morris “Arnie” Lang. During this time he took lessons from vibraphonist David Friedman. Mr. Spivack continued his studies at the Juilliard School, earning a Master of Music Degree. There his principal teachers were Saul Goodman and Elden “Buster” Bailey.
In college Mr. Spivack began composing concert pieces featuring the vibraphone and other percussion instruments. His “Four Pieces,” “Soliloquy” and “Siciliano” were published by the Lang Percussion Company, as were several percussion ensembles. His most-performed work, the “Quartet For Paper Bags” was recently played in Denmark, Poland and Japan.
Mr. Spivack’s scores for theatre include music for the Broadway production of Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” which featured Mikhail Baryshnikov in his theatrical debut, and the critically acclaimed New York Shakespeare Festival production of “Coriolanus” starring Christopher Walken.
Other compositions include “Puss In Boots,” choreographed by Robert LaFosse and commissioned by the School of American Ballet, filmscores, and a three-second fanfare for brass, percussion and synthesizer aired on the ABC television network from 1980 -1982 to announce that programs were being broadcast with closed captioning.
Mr. Spivack has worked as an arranger and orchestrator for Placido Domingo and Patti LaBelle. As a freelance percussionist, he has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, the American Symphony, and has played in 39 Broadway shows. He can be heard on the original cast albums of “Pirates of Penzance,” “The Tap Dance Kid,” “My Favorite Year,” “Triumph of Love” and “Marie Christine.” He is also the co-editor of “The Dictionary of Percussion Terms in the Symphonic Literature,” a reference book published by Carl Fischer.
Mr. Spivack recently wrote and performed a one-man-show entitled “The Tune of the Unknown Soloist,” a collection of songs and true stories about what goes on behind the scenes in the music business, featuring anecdotes about working with Bob Fosse, conducting the Atlanta Symphony and the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus, touring Romania with a percussion ensemble and arranging music for strings in Honolulu.
Sean Statser
Performer, composer, and educator Sean Statser (b. 1983) has been called "Lithe, muscular, and mesmerizing" by the New York Times. He is an active performer and has played and toured with several ensembles throughout the US, performing at many major venues including: Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Symphony Space, three appearances at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (2007, 2008, 2010), (Le) Poisson Rouge, Galapagos Art Space, and the Alba Music Festival in Alba, Italy. He has played with both the American Symphony Orchestra and One World Symphony as a section percussionist, and actively collaborates with many New York City artists and ensembles including: Noisebox, Metropolis Ensemble, Syzygy New Music, Blind Ear, and Cadillac Moon Ensemble.
Mr. Statser has recorded with several artists including percussionist Simon Boyar, Harold Farberman, John Pennington and jazz pianist Kenny Werner (No Beginning, No End - Winner of the 2010 Guggenheim Award). He has recorded four albums on which he is a featured soloist, and is currently working on his latest release, It's Mutual, which will feature new works for percussion, commissioned over the past two years. In addition, he is an established composer and was recently commissioned by the Animus Music Festival to write a piece for two percussionists and jazz ensemble, as well as being invited to write a marimba duo that was premiered at the 2010 NYU Broadway Percussion Seminar. His compositions are available for purchase through Bachovich Music Publications.
Mr. Statser received his M.M in Instrumental Performance from New York University, studying under the instruction of Jonathan Haas and Simon Boyar. He holds a B.A. in Music Performance from Fort Lewis College, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude and served as Student Marshal for commencement. He has taken additional lessons and master classes with artists such as Gary Burton, Stefon Harris, members of So Percussion, Naoko Takada, and Ney Rosauro. Over the past several years he has received awards and honors in both academics and music. Most notably, he was the recipient of the Yamaha/PAS/Terry Gibbs Vibraphone Scholarship.
Upon graduating in 2010, Mr. Statser joined the Adjunct Faculty at New York University. In addition, he is the General Manager of Kettles and Company and serves as Coordinator for the NYU Steinhardt Broadway Percussion Seminar/Summit.
Visit Sean's MySpace Music Page
Diana Sussman
Diana Sussman, graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Composition from Lawrence University, has been composing and songwriting for most of her life. She studies composition with Fred Sturm, Joanne Metcalf, and Asha Srinivasan at Lawrence University. She also studies voice with Joanne Bozeman and percussion with Dane Richeson and Thomas Stubbs. Next year she will be attending the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her wide interests musically have helped her to write for several varied ensembles, including chorus, percussion trio, orchestra, string quintet, saxophone quartet, and more. Her commissions include a solo marimba piece for marimba and dancer, a choral work for the Marinette High School in WI, a saxophone quartet for Lux Quartet, a saxophone duo for Loose Ligatures, and a number of film scores. Diana is the recipient of the Alumni Merit Scholarship, an Honorary Composition Scholarship, and the Ming Composition Scholarship. She is an alumnus of the Brevard Music Festival where she studied with Kevin Puts, Robert Aldridge and David Dzubay. She also attended the Zeltsman Marimba Festival of summer 2009 where she studied with Jack van Geem, Nancy Zeltsman, Beverley Johnston, and Ivana Bilic. She is a member of ASCAP, SAI, CMS, and PAS.
Joe Tompkins
Percussionist Joseph Tompkins began his musical studies at the age of ten with David Satterfield and Phil Faini at West Virginia University. With the strong guidance of these mentors, he enrolled at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with John Beck. He completed his graduate work at the Manhattan School of Music, under the tutelage of Chris Lamb.
Tompkins currently freelances in the New York City area and heads the percussion department at Rutgers University. He has performed with the New York Philharmonic, with whom he has toured Europe and Asia, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, St. Luke’s Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, the Rebel Baroque Orchestra in broadcasts from Trinity Church on Wall Street, the New York Collegium, and the Bach Vespers series at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.
In the realm of new music, Tompkins recently completed his seventh year with Timetable, a percussion trio he co-founded that has commissioned, performed and recorded many new works by both young and established composers.
He can be heard on film soundtracks for The Manchurian Candidate, Casanova, Failure to Launch, The Last Holiday and The Brave One and has performed in over a dozen Broadway productions.
He is married to violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins.
Daniel Temkin
Daniel Temkin has been writing music since age thirteen. One of his earliest compositions, “The Realm of Solitude,” was premiered in Alice Tully Hall as part of the Cecilian Music Society’s Young Artist Competition, and his “Five Bagatelles” and “two e.e. cummings poems” were selected as finalists in the ASCAP Young Composers Competition.
In 2008 his chamber work “Floating Amidst…” was premiered under the baton of the New York Youth Symphony’s Ryan McAdams, and his marimba solo “Expansive Horizons” was arranged for the acclaimed Music City Mystique percussion group. In 2009, his work “Wistfully Reminiscing” was premiered by pianist Qing Jiang at a sold-out concert in Los Angeles’s Bing Theatre. Currently, Daniel is completing a song cycle for sopranos Susanna Su and Helen Gabrielsen, as well as a new piece for the American Brass Quintet. In 2010, the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra will premier his “Regenerations” in NYC’s Symphony Space.
Daniel is a recipient of the Theodore Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award and he is an alumnus of the Eastern, Brevard, and Aspen Music Festivals. He holds a BM in Percussion from Rutgers University where he studied with Chris Deviney and She-e Wu. He has studied composition with Charles Fussell, Kevin Puts, Robert Aldridge, and Sydney Hodkinson, and he is currently a graduate composition fellow at the New England Conservatory where he studies with Michael Gandolfi.
Aaron Trant
Aaron Trant, deemed by 21ST CENTURY MUSIC as a "fire-breathing" percussionist, is both an active performer and composer. Cited for his "melodic, if un-pitched,voice"(Splendidezine), he has also received great acclaim for his original score and solo percussion performance to the Chris Marker film "La Jete." His eclectic knowledge of classical, jazz, rock, contemporary and improvised music has made him an asset to many ensembles throughout the United States. Mr. Trant is the co-founder, performer and composer for the After Quartet, an ensemble devoted to promoting new music in the tradition of the Silent Film Era. He is an original member of Firebird Ensemble, Primary Duo (piano and percussion), and Endy Emby (trumpet and percussion). He also performs regularly with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and the Fromm Foundation Players at Harvard University and Camelean Arts Ensemble. As a composer Aaron has written works for Lisa Saffer, Mark Gould, Firebird Ensemble, After Quartet, Endy Emby and Primary Duo. Mr. Trant has been seen in a variety of concert venues including Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall and Mexico's Palacio de Bellas Artes. Mr. Trant can be heard on the Mode, BMOP Sound, Boiled Jar, Cauchemar, Nepenthe and Stone Quarry labels. Aaron is the recipient of many grants including St. Botolph Club Foundation Grant- in- Aid and from the New England Foundation for the Arts. Aaron's percussion trio "Spiral" and solo xylo piece "x is ALWAYS for xylohphone" is published through Bachovich Music Publications. Upcoming projects include original compositions for Firebird Ensemble and Primary Duo.
Glen Velez
Glen Velez is considered one of the most influential percussionists our time, as well as being responsible for a world-wide resurgence in the popularity of the frame drum. While Glen draws upon the great drumming traditions of the Middle East, South India and the Mediterranean world (ancient and modern), he plays in a style all his own. Utilizing a vast culmination of complex hand and finger techniques, he creates a symphony of sound and texture from just a single hand held drum. Glen is also an expert in Central Asian Overtone Singing (singing two tones at once). During concerts, he often gives his audiences a spontaneous crash course in this style.
Glen has gained international recognition as a solo artist and is also known for his 15 year recording and performing collaborations with composer Steve Reich as well as the Paul Winter Consort. Other collaborations include: Tan Dun, Israel Philharmonia, Brooklyn Philharmonia, Opera Orchestra of New York, Suzanne Vega, Pat Metheny, Zakir Hussain, New York City Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Orpheus Chamber Ensemble. His own compositions have been featured on National Public Radio's All Things Considered and John Schaefer's New Sounds and have been commissioned by the Rockefeller Foundation, Jerome Foundation, and Reader's Digest. He has written music for theater and dance and recorded hundreds of albums on ECM, CBS, RCA, GRP, Warner Brothers, Deutsche Gramophone, Geffen, Nonesuch, Capital, and Sony.
In addition, he has several instructional videos, 5 instructional books and over a dozen recordings of his own music on CMP, Music of the World, Sounds True, Interworld, Ellipsis Arts and DafTof Records. Glen is a master teacher who conducts workshops worldwide and he currently teaches frame drums at the Mannes School of Music, as well as series of master classes at The Julliard School, Tanglewood and Manhattan School of Music.
Ben Wahlund
Ben Wahlund is an internationally award-winning music composer, music educator, and performer of percussion. With bachelor degrees from the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, as well as a Master's Degree in Music Theory and Composition and a Performance Certificate in percussion from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois, Ben Wahlund has seen success as a musician on a number of fronts since the early 1990's.
As a composer, Mr. Wahlund's works have been performed in the United States, Canada, Germany, Spain, Poland, Japan, Australia, France, Taiwan, China, and most recently, Jordan. Additionally, his compositions have placed twice in the Percussive Arts Society International Composition Contest, first place for the Quey Percussion Duo Annual Composition Contest, first place in the international Methanex "Symphony and Steel Composition Contest" for a concerto for steel pan and orchestra, and second place in the Keystone Composition Contest.
Ben Wahlund is the Assistant Director of the Birch Creek Music Center Percussion Session, in Egg Harbor, Wisconsin, as well as a private teacher and adjudicator in the Naperville, Illinois area and serves as adjunct faculty in music theory, percussion pedagogy, composition/orchestration and music education at North Central College, in Naperville, IL.
Ben Wahlund also serves as the director of percussion at Naperville Central High School, where the high school percussion ensemble's concert Drumshow consistently performs to capacity crowds of over 2,500 people. Additionally, Ben has designed and is director of the District 203 Riverwalk Percussion Camp.
His performance history involves successful performances in all aspects of percussion throughout the United States as well as Europe, including the Montreaux Jazz Festival, Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, Elmhurst Jazz Festival, two Percussive Arts Society International Conventions, a number of state Days of Percussion, and the Illinois Music Educators Association State Convention.
His effective and engaging teaching has earned him two Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Education, a number of citations as outstanding studio staff member at NCHS, a nomination for the Disney Excellence in Education Award, and, most importantly, a roster of tremendously successful students.
Ben Wahlund endorses Sabian Cymbals, Remo Percussion, and Innovative Percussion Drumsticks and Mallets. Mr. Wahlund's work is published exclusively by HoneyRock Publications and lives in the Chicago area with his wife, Jennifer, and two dogs, Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker.
Doug Wallace
Douglas Wallace lives in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and performs regularly as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral percussionist. As a soloist and chamber musician, he has worked with many ensembles including Theater Chamber Players, Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, The Battery Four Percussion Group, Washington Symphonic Brass and Percussion, and The Oblivion Ensemble. With these groups and others, he has performed as a guest artist and clinician at The Kennedy Center, The Cosmos Club, The Phillips Collection, The Freer Gallery, The National Gallery of Art, Constitution Hall, and The National Theater in Washington, D.C., The Academy of Music and The Morris Arboretum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, The Juilliard School in New York City, The Pyramid Arts Center in Rochester, New York, The Fame Music Festival in Princeton, New Jersey, The Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts in Huntington, New York, the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, the University of Maryland Summer Percussion Workshop in College Park, Maryland, and The Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox, Massachusetts. Mr. Wallace's orchestral background includes performances with The National Symphony Orchestra, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, The Washington National Opera, The Harrisburg Symphony, The Delaware Symphony, The Richmond Symphony, The Rochester Philharmonic, and the Alexandria Symphony. With these orchestras and others he has worked with world renowned conductors Lorin Maazel, Seiji Ozawa, James Levine, Leonard Slatkin, Kurt Mazur, Pierre Boulez, Placido Domingo, Jeffrey Tate, and Valery Gergiev.
In addition to his performing career, Mr. Wallace has a very extensive teaching background. He currently runs the percussion programs at Madison High School, Thoreau Middle School, and Kilmer Middle School in Vienna, Virginia, McLean High School and Longfellow Middle School in McLean, Virginia, and the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestra in Fairfax County, Virginia. His work with these organizations includes teaching methods classes, writing and arranging marching band and percussion ensemble music, coaching orchestral and band literature and conducting percussion ensemble. Mr. Wallace’s private students have been accepted to many music conservatories and colleges including The Juilliard School, The Curtis Institute of Music, The Cleveland Institute of Music, The New England Conservatory, The Peabody Conservatory, The Eastman School of Music, The Oberlin Conservatory, The University of Miami, and DePaul University. His teaching techniques are highlighted in his new method book, Percussion With Class, released in August of 2005 by the FJH Music Publishing Company, and his compositions and arrangements have been performed at The Juilliard School, The Eastman School of Music, New York University, George Mason University, The Music Academy of the West, The Aspen Music Festival, Temple University, and at The Bands of America National Percussion Festival.
Mr. Wallace has a Bachelor's Degree and Performer's Certificate from The Eastman School of Music where he studied with John Beck, and a Master's Degree from The Juilliard School where he studied with Greg Zuber.
Matthew Welch
The music of Matthew Welch (b.1976) stems from a remarkably multi-faceted foundation. Matthew holds two university degrees in Experimental Music Composition, a BFA from Simon Fraser University (1999), and an MA form Wesleyan University (2001), studying with noted composers such as Barry Truax, Rodney Sharman, Alvin Lucier and Anthony Braxton. His compositions range from traditional-like bagpipe tunes to electronic pieces, improvisation strategies and fully notated works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles and orchestra. He has also taken part in a number of compositional collaborations with Indonesian Gamelan composer-performers in Bali and Java, performed in free improvisation contexts with numerable New York City improvisers, and played with art rockers in the Brooklyn underground.
As a virtuoso of the Highland Bagpipe, he studied traditional music with Gold Medalist masters such as Colin MacLellan, Jack Lee, Angus MacLellan and Andrew Wright. Matthew also was a member of the four - time World Champion Simon Fraser University Pipe Band, winning with them in 1999 and 2001. As an ambassador for the instrument, Matthew has premiered a number of new compositions written for bagpipes by contemporary composers. This involvement with a more diverse musical context has led him into an expansion of his instrumental array to include alternative bagpipe configurations, accordion and various saxophones. Indonesian Gamelan percussion music, both Javanese and more recently, Balinese, have been another focus of Matthew’s, which he has pursued throughout his academic career, with the New York Indonesian Consulate gamelans, and in Bali. Matthew appears on Anthony Braxton’s 10 [Solo Bagpipe] Compositions, 2000, and two compact discs of his own music, Ceol Nua (Leo 336, 2002) highlighting orchestral and chamber works and Hag at the Churn (Newsonic 33, 2003), a collection of electronic concoctions. The eclectic breadth of his interests in Celtic music, gamelan, minimalism, improvisation and rock also converge in compositional amalgams for his New York based ensemble, Blarvuster. A recording of his most recent compositions, Dream Tigers, was released on John Zorn’s Tzadik Records’ Composer Series in March of 2005.
B. Michael Williams
B. Michael Williams (b. 1954) is Professor of Music and Director of Percussion Studies at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. He holds the B.M. degree from Furman University, M.M. from Northwestern University, and Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Active as a performer and clinician in both symphonic and world music, Williams has performed with the Charlotte (NC) Symphony, Lansing (MI) Symphony, Brevard Music Center Festival Orchestra, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and has appeared at several Percussive Arts Society International Conventions. He has written articles for Accent Magazine, South Carolina Musician, and Percussive Notes, and has made scholarly presentations on the music of John Cage and on African music at meetings of the College Music Society and Percussive Arts Society. In 2004, Dr. Williams received the Winthrop University Distinguished Professor Award, the highest honor given to a Winthrop faculty member.
Dr. Williams is Associate Editor (world percussion) for Percussive Notes magazine. A composer of innovative works for percussion, his "Four Solos for Frame Drums" was among the first published compositions for the medium. Additional works to his credit include "Three Shona Songs" for marimba ensemble, "Recital Suite for Djembe," "Bodhran Dance" and "Another New Riq." His book, Learning Mbira: A Beginning…, utilizes a unique tablature notation for the Zimbabwean mbira dzavadzimu, and has been acclaimed as an effective tutorial method for the instrument. Williams' 4-volume set of 16 mbira transcriptions titled MbiraTab continues the series. Among his newest compositions are "Rhythmic Journey No. 1: Conakry to Harare" for solo tar, "Rhythmic Journey No. 2: The Cage Sieve" for solo bodhrán, and "Rhythmic Journey No. 3: Post-Minimal" for solo riq, all published by Bachovich Music Publishers. His 2005 CD recording, BataMbira, with Grammy-nominated percussionist and producer Michael Spiro, has been featured on National Public Radio, The Voice of America, and other broadcasts worldwide. Dr. Williams is an endorsing artist/clinician for Cooperman Drums and Sabian Cymbals. Web: www.bmichaelwilliams.com
David Wolfson
David Wolfson is a composer, music director, arranger, pianist and copyist who has lived in New York City since 1986. Mr. Wolfson’s concert works have been performed by such diverse forces as Synchronia, the Sirius String Quartet and the Bassoon Quartet of the Cleveland Orchestra. Recent premieres include Time and Tide, for cello quartet, on the Composers Voice series at Jan Hus Church in New York City; Ruck, for saxophone quartet, by the Dave Noland Sax Quartet at Marble Collegiate Church; Recurve, for clarinet, violin, cello and piano, by the Gotham Ensemble on the Classical at Cornelia series at the Cornelia Street Café; Twinkle, Dammit!, for toy piano and toys, by Margaret Leng Tan at the 1st International Toy Piano Festival; Deep Woods: The Unicorn Sings to Memory for soprano and string orchestra on a text by Peter Beagle on a concert of the Blacksburg Community Strings: and Rapture, a short opera, on the Pocket Opera series at Hunter College in New York City. A film version of another short opera, Maya’s Ark, was produced by Ardea Arts in 2012. Discography includes the CD “Seventeen Windows” from Albany Records, featuring the suite of short piano pieces Seventeen Windows, performed by Jenny Lin, and Sonata for Cello and Piano, performed by Ms. Lin and Laura Bontrager, cello. His music has also been recorded by pop singer Tamra Hayden, soprano Karen Jolicoeur, and cellist Suzanne Mueller.