Born in Gifu, Japan, Yuri Hiramitsu began her first piano lessons at the age of four and marimba lessons at thirteen. She pursued her music studies at Aichi University of the Arts (Japan) in Momoko Kamiya’s class. Later, she studied at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris (CRR de Paris) in Eric Sammut’s class and, in 2018, obtained the diploma of the advanced marimba cycle at CRR de Paris.

In 2015, Yuri gave her first recital in Kyoto, Japan, and received a scholarship from the Aoyama Music Foundation, which supported her for two years during her university studies in Japan. In June 2016, she performed “The Carnival of the Animals” by Camille Saint-Saëns, at the invitation of pianists Karin Nagano, Mari Kodama, and Momo Kodama, under the direction of her father, the renowned conductor Kent Nagano, in Paris. She gave solo marimba recitals in 2016 at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Caen, in 2018 in Bordeaux, and in 2019, 2021, and 2023 in Gifu, Japan. In July 2024, Yuri was invited to play the marimba at the Cap Ferret Music Festival.

Over the years, Yuri Hiramitsu has won several major prizes in international competitions. In 2022, she won the 2nd prize unanimously at the France Musique Competition and reached the semi-finals at the World Marimba Competition in Stuttgart. In 2018, she received the 2nd prize at the Mallet Lab Marimba Competition and was invited to the grand percussion festival PASIC in the United States. She also won the 2nd prize at the Pescara International Marimba Competition in Italy, after having won the 3rd prize in 2016. In 2014, she achieved 5th place at the Tokyo Wind and Percussion Instruments Competition, Japan, among 135 candidates. In 2013, she won the 1st prize at the Kobe International Music Competition.

Today, Yuri teaches marimba, percussion, and piano in conservatories in France, and she performs in concerts in France and Japan. In 2023, she obtained the Diplôme d’État (DE) for percussion teaching. Her dedication to her craft and her passion for music continue to inspire her students and audiences around the world.

“Ben is a great composer, and an energetic performer who knows how deep music can go. It’s always fun to play with him.”
– JOVINO SANTOS NETO

Dr. Ben Thomas is one of the most in-demand vibists in the Pacific Northwest. Known for combining virtuosic technique with flowing lyricism, Thomas’s music spans from pyrotechnic improvisations to delicate soundscapes.

In addition to leading jazz and tango ensembles, he performs as a sideman on mallets, percussion, and bandoneon with a wide variety of groups throughout the United States, including the Jovino Santos Neto Quinteto and the Atlas Tango Project. He currently has five albums of original compositions available on Origin Records: “Triskaidekaphobia”, “The Mystagogue”, “The Madman’s Difference”, “Yet What Is Any Ocean…”, and “Eternal Aporia”.

After falling in love with both tango music and dance, Thomas started playing bandoneon in 2006, traveling to Argentina and working with tango musicians from across the world. He was guest artist with the Eugene Opera in 2018 as the bandoneon soloist for Piazzolla’s “Maria de Buenos Aires”. He tours regularly with the Atlas Tango Project and can be heard on their most recent album, “Estaciones y Sueños”.

Thomas completed his Doctor of Musical Arts in Percussion Performance at the University of Washington in 2007. His dissertation was on the development of Cal Tjader’s early Latin Jazz vibraphone style. Thomas received his Master of Music with Honors in Improvisation from the University of Michigan in 1994. While in graduate school, he directed the University of Michigan’s Jazz Composers Orchestra and worked with composer Stephen Rush. Thomas also graduated from Swarthmore College, where he majored in mathematics and music.

Over the years, Thomas has performed at the Stowe Tango Music Festival, Ballard Jazz Festival, Earshot Jazz Festival, Detroit-Montreaux Jazz Festival, Bumbershoot Arts Festival, Issaquah Jazz Festival, Anacortes Arts Festival, Ellensburg Jazz in the Valley Festival, Tacoma Maritime Festival, Bellingham Art of Jazz Series, and the Juneau Jazz and Classics Festival.

As a composer, Thomas has written for chamber groups, big bands, jazz combos, dance and theater. Thomas is currently chair of the Music Department at Highline College, where he teaches music theory, composition, and performance.

Tomasz Arnold is a percussionist and composer from Krakow, Poland. He is an active solo, chamber and orchestral performer with areas of focus that include: solo marimba, mallet percussion chamber performance, timpani in the orchestral setting as well as performing contemporary and historical music on marimba. He gave concerts as a soloist and chamber musician in USA, Poland, Germany, France, Bulgaria, Lithuania, China and Mexico. He is a member of the ensemble Arnold & Fraczek Percussion Duo as well as a percussion section leader and timpanist of the Cracow Philharmonic.

Before his return to Poland, Tomasz lived, worked, and studied in the USA in the years between 2009 and 2020. He earned four music degrees from US leading conservatories and universities while on full tuition merit scholarships every time. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in percussion and composition (double major) from the Eastman School of Music where he studied percussion with Michael Burritt. After that, he earned a Master of Music degree in percussion from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied percussion with Chris Lamb, timpani with Duncan Patton, and marimba with She-e Wu. Tomasz also holds a Master of Arts degree in composition from Wesleyan University, a PhD degree in composition from the University at Buffalo, and is currently pursuing his second doctorate degree in percussion performance at the Krzysztof Penderecki Academy of Music in Krakow where he also teaches mallet percussion.

Tomasz Arnold was a winner of five first prizes at various international percussion competitions, which include the first prize at the 50th Anniversary International Solo Percussion Competition organized by Percussive Arts Society during PASIC at Indianapolis in November 2011. He also received many grants and scholarships such as PAS Armand Zildjian Percussion Scholarship, Howard Hanson Scholarship, Marshal Seeman Scholarship, Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Grant and others.

Tomasz is also an active composer and his music was performed and recorded by ensembles such as: Arditti Quartet, Ensemble Pamplemousse, Mivos Quartet, HANATSU Miroir, Eastman Percussion Ensemble, Mantra Percussion and many others. His music appeared in many renowned concert halls around the globe including the famous Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona where his piece SHIFT – Fajrant! for solo percussion was premiered in 2016. His piece Non-Aggressive Music Deterrent for flute, cello and vibraphone with live electronics was awarded the 2019 Morton Gould Young Composer Award in New York City.

Brett William Dietz is the Carolyn Mattax Professor of Percussion and Director of Percussion Studies at Louisiana State University. He is the music director of Hamiruge – The LSU Percussion group. He earned his Bachelor of Music in Percussion and the Master of Music in Composition at the Duquesne University. He earned his Doctor of Music in Percussion at Northwestern University. He has studies percussion with Jack DiIanni, Andrew Reamer, Stanley Leonard, and Michael Burritt while his principal composition teachers include Joseph Willcox Jenkins, David Stock, and Jay Alan Yim.

Dietz is in demand as a clinician and soloist throughout the United States and has performed at numerous Percussive Art Society International Conventions. He is a founding member of the Tempus Fugit Percussion Ensemble (1994-2004) and currently performs as a duo partner with Brazilian percussion artist, Gustavo Miranda.

Dietz’s music has been performed throughout the United States, Europe, East Asia, and Australia by numerous ensembles including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Portland Symphony Orchestra, Winston-Salem Symphony, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Winds, Eastman Wind Ensemble, National Wind Ensemble, Arizona Music Fest, and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. His composition, Pandora’s Box received its New York premiere at Carnegie Hall by the National Wind Ensemble under the direction of H. Robert Reynolds. His chamber opera, Headcase: Opera Introspective was called “haunting and powerful – a remarkably sophisticated score that blends words, music, and visual displays to touch the heart and mind” by the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. The composition relieves the story of the stroke that Dietz suffered at the age of 29 in 2022. His music is published by Keiser Classical, C Alan Publications, Keyboard Percussion Publications, and Tapspace Publications.

Hamiruge – The LSU Percussion Group has released numerous recordings including In Motion: The Percussion Music of David Stock, Toxic Rainbows (featuring world premiere recordings by composers Peter Klatzow, Daniel Lentz, Randall Woolf, David Stock and Luduino Pitombeira), and Retrospections: Percussion Music by Stanley Leonard and Brett William Dietz. The ensemble had its New York debut at Carnegie Hall in 2012.

Dietz is an artist/educational clinician with Malletech, Zildjian Company, and the Pearl Corporation as a Malletstation endorser.

Miki Yokoi is a Japanese marimbist/percussionist based in Paris, France.  Studying piano since age 2 and marimba since age 5, Miki continued her marimba and percussion studies with Keiko Abe and Kyoichi Sano at the Toho-Gakuen High School and University of Music, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree. After graduation, she moved to France and began studies with Emmanuel Séjourné at the Conservatory of Strasbourg. She’s also studied at the Conservatory of Paris with Eric Sammut and Frédéric Macarez. In 2018, Miki moved to Germany, to pursue and complete her Master’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar with Markus Leoson. She is currently enrolled in Soloist class at the Conservatory of Paris. She has won awards in numerous international marimba competitions, including 2nd Prize at the 2014 GPIMC International Marimba Competition (USA), 2nd Prize at the 2018 International Marimba Competition in Pescara (Italy), and 3rd Prize -Professional Category at the 2023 1st Keiko Abe International Marimba Online Competition. Miki was also invited to the solo marimba recital at perKumania Percussion Festival in Paris.

Frédéric Gauthier is a percussion artist based out of France. Since 2002, Frédéric performs with La Musique de l’Air (the senior band of the French Air Force) and was appointed in 2005 as Timpanist/Percussionist in their wind orchestra. Frédéric is also timpanist with Orchestre de l’Opera de Massy. He regularly performs with the Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Colonne, Orchestre de l’Opera de Rouen, and the Orchestre de Picardie.

Frédéric began his music studies at the music school of Saint-Vallier and Montceau-les-Mines in France. In 1992, he continued at Dijon Conservatory, studying with Stanislas Bujo and Pierre-François Resta. He was awarded a diploma in percussion, sight reading, and chamber music. After, he studied at the Conservatoire de Paris (CNR-CSP) with Frédéric Macarez. There he met Eric Sammut, and was introduced to the marimba.

Fréderic Gauthier served on the Keyboard Committee of the Percusive Arts Society and was vice president of the France PAS Day of Percussion festival. He is currently Artist Director of his own percussion festival in Rosny-sous-Bois, where his percussion ensemble arrangement of “Tubular Bells II” by Mike Oldfield premiered.

In addition to being an Artist Endorser for Malletech, Frédéric serves as a Business Development Manager. In this role, Frédéric works with retailers and stores, as well as performers and teachers, in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands to increase Malletech’s visibility and reach throughout these countries.

As an all-encompassing percussionist and educator, Dr. Cory J. High has an energetic career as a performer, clinician, professor of music, and recording specialist. He currently resides in South Carolina and serves as professor of percussion at both Winthrop University and Newberry College.

Cory’s performance accomplishments include being regularly featured as a  marimba soloist throughout the Southeastern United States, premiering a number of self-transcribed Baroque lute compositions, and performing with the South Carolina Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also collaborated extensively with Wildlight Publications as a marimbist for multiple studio recordings.

Cory also co-founded HighSeas Media with fellow Malletech Performing Artist, Dr. Bailey Seabury. Together, they aim to provide a greater advocacy for academic music. Since its creation, HighSeas Media has worked with the University of South Carolina Percussion Ensemble, Nancy Zeltsman, Duo Plygas, the Allen University Percussion Ensemble, as well as a multitude of chamber ensembles.

Dr. High holds degrees from the University of South Carolina (DMA), Lee University (MM), and the University of Florida (BME).

Cory is a proud performer of his Malletech Roadster, nicknamed ‘Elsie’ in memory of his grandmother.

David Lockeridge is a highly in-demand Australian percussionist and educator, working in multiple areas of the music industry, including as a soloist, freelance percussionist, chamber musician, session musician, and guest artist with chamber ensembles and orchestras.

David keeps a busy schedule with recent commercial engagements including the 25th Anniversary of Jekyll and Hyde with Anthony Warlow, Riceboy Sleeps with Jonsi and Alex (Game of Thrones, Sigur Ros, How to Train Your Dragon, We Bought a Zoo), the Sydney and Queensland seasons of Bring It On: The Musical, Wallace and Gromit’s Musical Marvels at the Sydney Opera House, the opening ceremony of the Special Olympics on channel 9 and the celebrations for the Sydney Harbour Bridges’ 90^th Anniversary. In 2023, David was featured in the Netflix show Wellmania with Celeste Barber. David is constantly touring with veteran percussion ensemble Btutta with recent tours to Asia and Australia wide for Musica Viva. David has given multiple premieres of new works for marimba and is currently touring his new solo concert “From Near and Far.” This concert features new virtuosic works written for David by leading Australian and overseas composers.

You can hear David on multiple recordings with 2021 seeing the release of his new album From Near and Far – a Percussion Journey. David has worked with Casey Donovan, Anthony Warlow, John Foreman OAM, Peter Cousens, Icehouse, Human Nature, Felix Riebl, Jonsi, Alex Somers, Eddie Perfect, Rachel Beck, Simon Wright (AC/DC), Lucy Durack, The Sydney International Orchestra, The Aussie Pops Orchestra and many other Australian and international acts. Composers David has worked with include Ross Edwards, Gerard Brophy, John Psathas, Dr Diana Blom, Sally Whitwell, Alex Gomez at Otis Studios, Alex Chilvers and Daniel Rojas.

With a passion for education, David teaches percussion students in the Bachelor of Music degree at the University of New South Wales. Since 2015, David has worked with the NSW Symphonic Wind Ensemble, NSW Symphony Orchestra and the School Spectacular Orchestra based at the Arts Unit, a specialist’s arm of the Department of Education focusing on the arts. Every year, David tours Australia giving master classes and educational events through music camps and regional conservatoriums. In 2023, David was invited to join the panel of adjudicators for the Australian Marimba Competition, a world renowned competition based in Melbourne.

In 2023, David became an artist endorser with Malletech and proudly performs on an Imperial Grand Marimba with Malletech mallets.

Born in Canada, Morris Palter’s diverse musical interests have found him performing throughout North America, Asia, and Europe at some of the most prominent festivals and venues including Carnegie Hall, the Royal College of Music (London, UK), the Quincena Festival (Spain), Disney Hall (Los Angeles) and IRCAM (Paris). Morris has commissioned and/or premiered hundreds of new compositions, working with both notable composers and new compositional voices. As a novelty ragtime xylophone specialist, he has performed globally at festivals throughout North America, and Europe including the Breda Jazz Festival (The Netherlands) and the Bohèm Ragtime and Jazz Festival (Hungary).

In 2000, Morris co-founded NOISE (San Diego New Music), and was a member of the redfish bluefish percussion ensemble from 1999 to 2005. In 2010, Morris was host and director of the bluefish percussion ensemble from 1999 to 2005. In 2010, Morris was host and director of the Focus Day of Percussion at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. More recent engagements found him providing all the percussion music for the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles’s live theatre production of King Henry IV starring Tom Hanks, as well as residencies at the University of Southern California, and the University of North Texas. Morris is the founder and director of the Tocalo Tucson Summer Chamber Percussion Seminar and is currently endorsed by Malletech, Black Swamp Percussion, Sabian Cymbals, and REMO Drumheads. Morris was an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (2012-2017) and is currently an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Arizona.

pax duo is a dynamic new percussion project created by Tristan Swihart and Micah Detweiler. Based in Goshen, IN and Madison, WI. pax duo aims to break preconceptions of contemporary percussion through collaboration and new creation of genre bending works.

Tristan and Micah first met in the fall of 2012 when Micah began working with the Northridge Raider Marching Band in Middlebury, IN where Tristan was a student. The marching band show that year was entitled Et in Terra Pax. Since then they have gone from student and teacher to close friends and colleagues.

In their first season alone, pax duo has had more than 20 engagements including performances at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Goshen College, Indiana Wesleyan University, DePauw University, and Purdue Fort Wayne. They are continually working on new projects and commissions and expanding their list of collaborators.

pax duo are Malletech performing artists and are proud to endorse their products.

Micah Detweiler is a sought-after educator and performer in northern Indiana. He is currently the adjunct professor of percussion at Goshen College and at Indiana University South Bend.

As a performer Micah has shared the stage with Third Coast Percussion, been heard on Minnesota Public Radio’s “A Prairie Home Companion”, and been a featured soloist with numerous ensembles. Garrison Keillor described his playing as, “An astonishing beautiful musical event. Everything. All of it. Mesmerizing and Elegant.”

Micah’s most recent performance project  is with pax duo, along with collaborator Tristan Swihart. As pax duo they have performed throughout the midwest.

As a marching percussionist, Micah has toured the country as a snare drummer with Legends Drum and Bugle Corps. He has taught high school and college marching percussion sections in Indiana and Wisconsin; most notably the University of Wisconsin Badger Band. While teaching with the Badger Band his arrangements were performed for millions of fans in person and on live TV as the band appeared in the Tournament of Roses Parade and performed the halftime show of the Rose Bowl Game.

Micah’s students have been awarded first place in the PASIC chamber music contest, have participated in numerous honor ensembles, and have attended many prestigious summer music camps. Students of his have gone on to study at renowned music schools such as the University of Michigan and the Eastman School of Music.

Micah is a graduate of Goshen College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His principal teachers were Dr. Anthony DiSanza, and Dr. Christopher Fashun, with additional world percussion study with Thomas Ross and Todd Hammes. He spent four summers studying and instructing with Leigh Howard Stevens at the Indiana LHS Marimba Seminar.

Micah lives in Elkhart, Indiana with his spouse Hillary, dog Magoo, and Cat Mo.

Micah is a proud endorser and performing artist for Malletech mallets and instruments.

Tristan Swihart is a percussionist based in Madison, WI. Being equal parts performer, educator, and arts administrator, Tristan keeps himself busy as a freelance artist.  When not on the road performing or teaching private lessons, Tristan enjoys reading, kayaking, and riding his bike.  He is also actively involved in the process of creating new works for percussion, having been a part of multiple commissions and world premieres with several composers such as Andrew Patzig, Victor LaBozzetta.

Tristan is a co-founder and member of pax duo, a percussion project based in Goshen, IN and Madison, WI.  Along with collaborator Micah Detweiler, Tristan aims to break preconceptions of contemporary percussion through collaboration and new creation.  pax duo has performed over twenty concerts and clinics during their premier 2021-2022 tour season and recently released Bloom Suite, by Elliot Cole.

As an educator, Tristan teaches numerous junior and senior high school percussionists as a private instructor in Madison, WI. Currently, Tristan is a co-director of the Indiana All-State percussion ensemble, assists with the Wisconsin Youth Symphony percussion ensemble, and is the director of world percussion studies at the International Music Camp in the Turtle Mountains of North Dakoda. In this role, he teaches introductory non-western drumming techniques to students of all ages with the goal of sharing his appreciation of these musical cultures.  Tristan has also assisted in teaching Western and Brazilian percussion at the Birch Creek Summer Music Academy for Percussion and Steel Band. In addition, he is an experienced marching band instructor, teaching drum lines and front ensembles throughout Indiana and Wisconsin since 2017.

Tristan received a Bachelor of Music degree and Arts Leadership certificate from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Professor Michael Burritt as well as Brian Kushmaul, Chip Ross, Jim Ross, and Rich Thompson.  Tristan previously studied with Micah Detweiler.

Dr. Bailey Seabury is a dynamic, multi-faceted percussionist active as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator based in Columbia, SC. He is currently the Adjunct Percussion Instructor/Drumline Instructor at the University of South Carolina, where he coordinates the marching percussion program, teaches applied lessons, and helps to direct the UofSC Percussion Ensemble, winners of the 2021 Percussive Arts Society International Percussion Ensemble Competition.

As a soloist, chamber musician, and clinician, Bailey maintains an active performance schedule. He has performed with ensembles across the U.S. including the International Contemporary Ensemble, the South Carolina Philharmonic, the Rock Hill Symphony, the Aiken Symphony Orchestra, the Conway Symphony Orchestra, and with members of NEXUS. He has performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention on multiple occasions, including a Showcase Concert with the Troy University Percussion
Ensemble in 2012, and a Keyboard Showcase Concert with Andy Harnsberger in 2019, as well as at the American Single Reed Summit. As a solo performer, he was a semi-finalist at the Great Plains International Marimba Competition in 2014.

Together with Andrew Patzig, Bailey founded Duo Plygas, an award-winning  percussion duo focused on performing, commissioning, and composing new and exciting works for percussion duo. Duo Plygas was formed in 2012 while Bailey and Andrew were both studying at Troy University with T. Adam Blackstock. The duo has performed across the U.S., including performances at Troy University, the University of Central Arkansas, the University of South Carolina, and Lee University. Duo Plygas was awarded the second-prize at
the 2017 Great Plains International Marimba Competition.

Committed to the commissioning of new works, Bailey has worked with and been on the consortium for over 20 new works by composers such as Kevin Bobo, David Skidmore, Lane Harder, Brian Nozny, Adam Silverman, Russell Wharton, Blake Tyson, Jürg Frey and Michael Pisaro, among others.

As an in-demand marching percussion arranger and instructor, he has worked with ensembles across the Southeastern US. His original compositions and arrangements are played by high school and collegiate ensembles throughout Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, including the  University of Central Arkansas, Troy University, and the University of South Carolina.

He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of South Carolina, a Master of Music degree from the University of Central Arkansas, and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Troy University. His primary teachers include Dr. Scott Herring, Dr. Blake Tyson, and Dr. T. Adam Blackstock.

Bailey is a proud Malletech Performing Artist.

Hyeji Bak is globally recognized as a percussion soloist, adored by audiences and colleagues alike. She is the first Korean to win First Prize in the Percussion Category of the 2019 Geneva International Music, also sweeping six Special Prizes, including Audience Prize, Young Audience Prize, Students Prize, Yamaha Young Artists Scholarship, Concerts de Jussy Prize and Bergerault Marimba Prize. Additionally, she won First Prize and three Special Prizes (Recording Prize, Public Prize and Best Performance set Concerto) in the Universal Marimba Competition, First Prize of Sparda Classic Awards, Third Prize of International Percussion Competition at Northwestern University and Second Prize of August-Everding Music Competition in Munich.

In April 2021, Hyeji Bak, along with the Seoul Philharmonic, performed the Korean premiere of Speaking Drum by Péter Eötvös. She has also previously collaborated with famous conductors including Julien Leroy, Li Biao, Jaejoon Lee, Hongsik Kim and Narah Chung. She has furthered the collaboration of European and Korean classical music by performing with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz, Ensemble Quodlibet, Geneva Chamber Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra, Daegu Symphony Orchestra, Jeju Chamber Orchestra and Daegu Prodigy Youth Orchestra.

As an active soloist, Hyeji Bak has been invited to globally renown festivals including Festival Classique des Haudères, Festival de Pau, International Percussion Ensemble Week(IPEW), the 50th Anniversary of the Kolberg Festival and Percussion PULSE 2020 held by The Royal Danish Academy of Music, as well as recitals held in Jussy, Switzerland, Geneva, Switzerland, and Paris, France. She has performed in many impressive venues including Seoul Arts Center, LOTTE Concert Hall, Suseong Artpia, and Daegu Concert House.

Hyeji Bak began her studies in percussion when she was 15 years old and completed her master’s course and the supreme performer’s program in Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart. She graduated from Seoul National University and studied under Gyeonghwan Choi and Marta Klimasara.

Iwaki Senda was born in Okayama, Japan. He graduated and completed his degrees at Tokyo Music and Media arts SHOBI. His principal teachers were Atsushi Sugahara, Keita Shiraishi, Momoko Kamiya and Ludwig Albert. Iwaki received second prize at the 12th Japan Classical Music Competition, and first prize & Kobe Mayor Prize at the 8th International Music Competition in Kobe. He also won first prize at the 11th Japan International League of Artists Competition in Tokyo.

Iwaki presented recitals and master classes at the International Percussion Festival in Bogota, Colombia and International Marimba Festival in Chiapas, Mexico.

Iwaki is an active orchestral, brass band, and chamber performer as well as actively called for recording sessions and adjudication of music competitions.

Harriet Riley is a British Percussionist and Composer based in Bristol, UK. Her work has brought her all over the world playing with chamber ensembles, orchestras, dance projects, theatre work and bands. With a broad range of percussion disciplines, Harriet studied orchestra percussion after growing up in a household learning jazz and many percussion traditions from around the world. Long established chamber quartet Spindle Ensemble featured on Guardian’s Top 10 Contemporary Classical albums of 2021 and recently collaborated with Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan in Toronto. Harriet also plays with alt pop project Stevie Toddler on vibraphone and percussion which featured on Guy Garvey BBC Radio6 and Jamie Cullum BBC Radio 2. Harriet regularly plays with Charles Hazlewood’s Paraorchestra and has performed with them in Moscow and Australia as well as London’s Barbican and headlining at Bluedot Festival in UK with Hannah Peel. Through Paraorchestra she met Will Gregory (Goldfrapp) and started playing in Will Gregory Moog Ensemble, performing at The British Library and with BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Harriet studies Balinese Gamelan and regularly goes back to Bali to learn and perform Gender Wayang, a chamber music gamelan used for ceremonies and shadow puppetry. In 2023, Harriet performed in Waldo’s Circus of Magic and Terror, at Bristol Old Vic + a UK tour, playing Wernick’s Xylosynth. Harriet is also an official artist with Malletech and Collingwood Cymbals. Harriet is a busy performing and recording artist and has been freelancing since 2014.

Xianghao Chen currently is the Professor of Percussion at the School of Music, Shanghai University and the School of Music, East Normal University, where he teaches marimba, percussion, timpani and percussion ensemble.

Since 2000, Xianghao Chen has been the principal percussionist of Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra. Before joining the SPO, he played percussion with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and, as timpanist, played with the Shanghai Ballet Orchestra, Shanghai Opera House Orchestra, and Macco Symphony Orchestra.

Apart from the performances in symphony music, Xianghao Chen has been active in chamber music in his home city. He made his marimba solo concert debut in 1993, the first of its kind in mainland China history. He has also played percussion solo concerts in Shanghai Spring Music Festival, Shanghai Arts Festival, Shanghai Weekend Radio Show, and in Shen Zhen First Percussion Festival.

Xianghao Chen was the percussion teacher in the middle school affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music for 16 years (from 1979-1995), where he taught many wonderful students; many of them later became percussionists, timpanists, and conductors all over the mainland China orchestras.

Xianghao Chen has a Master’s degree from Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where he studied percussion under the guidance of George Gaber, Stanley Leonard, Andrea Reamer, Xu Baolun, and Dong Deliang

His published books for percussion include:

• Modern Studies for Snare Drum
• 156 Elementary Studies for Snare Drum
• 101 Intermediate Studies for Snare Drum
• 52 Advanced Studies for Snare Drum
• Classical Collections for Marimba Solos ( 1,2 )

Andrew Bockman is an active performer, educator, and composer from Tampa, Florida. He is a Doctoral candidate in Percussion Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music where he received the prestigious Performer’s Certificate in 2018. Andrew received a Master’s degree in percussion from Eastman in 2019 as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in percussion from Florida State University in 2017 where he graduated Summa Cum Laude.

With a passion for both orchestral and chamber music, Andrew has performed with a variety of ensembles including the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Eastman Wind Ensemble and Philharmonia, Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, Eastman Percussion Ensemble, and Eastman’s Musica Nova. Most recently, he performed as timpanist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra during their 2021 summer season. Andrew has performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) with the Eastman Percussion Ensemble in 2017, premiering works by John Psathas and Michael Burritt, as Principal Timpanist with the Eastman Wind Ensemble on their 2019 tour to Severance Hall, and as a soloist at the 2016 McCormick Marimba Festival. He can be heard with the National Orchestral Institute in their 2020 album Bernstein, Gershwin & Copland: Works released on NAXOS, and with the acclaimed FSU Percussion Ensemble in their Volume Three: Ten Windows on Garnet House Productions.

Andrew is an alumnus of the Arts Leadership Certificate Program at Eastman, and is dedicated to forging new pathways for the future of concert music. Through the Institute for Music Leadership, he has held administrative positions with the Grammy award-winning Third Coast Percussion and with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s Development team. Andrew has attended workshops and taken courses on leadership issues in music, teaching artistry, and entrepreneurial thinking. He currently works as a Student Blogger for the Eastman Journal.

Dr. Justin Bunting (b. 1986) has an active career as an international percussion educator, solo and chamber performer, orchestral musician, clinician, and composer. His appearances include the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the NEXUS Summer Percussion Workshop in Toronto, and the Great American Brass Band Festival.
He currently serves as Assistant Professor of Percussion at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He previously served on the faculties of Western Colorado University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Winston-Salem State University.

He currently performs with his wife, Cassie, as Blue Line Duo. They have performed or presented at the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) Colombia Day of Percussion in Armenia, Colombia, the College Music Society South Central Regional Conference, Colorado Music Educators Association (CMEA) Conference, the Mars Hill University Guest Artist Percussion Residency, New Western Slope Chamber Music Series (Colorado), Music for a Great Space, and
the Greensboro Fringe Festival.

Active in the Percussive Arts Society, Dr. Bunting currently serves as President of the Arkansas PAS Chapter, is a member of the World Percussion Committee, and is a former member of the Collegiate Committee. Also, he had an article published on performance anxiety in Percussive Notes and is a reviewer for the New Literature and Recordings section of that publication. In
addition to performing at PASIC, he has appeared PAS Days of Percussion in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Ohio.

As an orchestral musician, Justin has performed with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, Winston-Salem Symphony, and the Salisbury Symphony. He has also appeared with the North Carolina Opera Orchestra, Greensboro Opera Orchestra, Greensboro Light Opera & Song, and the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra. Additionally, Justin is a founding member of the North Carolina Brass Band and Gate City Percussion. He appears on those groups’ recordings First In Flight, Christmas Wrapped in Brass (NCBB) and Praxis (GCP).

Dr. Bunting’s book, Studies in Rosewood, is a collection of ten four-mallet marimba solos that allow students and teachers to develop technique, musicianship, and analysis. The book is available from C. Alan Publications. Three other works, the world/multiple percussion solo Across the Floor,
an arrangement of the Dave Matthews Band song “#41” for solo vibraphone, and a world percussion duet titled Fusão Árabe are published by Bachovich Music Publications. He has also composed a piece for world percussion ensemble, collaborated to compose another world percussion duet, and has completed various arrangements for steel band. He has been a part of
commissioning, premiering, or composing more than twenty works for percussion from composers including Ivan Trevino, Evan Chapman, and Emma O’Halloran.

Justin earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Performance and a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Music Theory from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, as well as a Master of Music in Percussion Performance from Belmont University and a Bachelor of Music
in Percussion Performance from The Ohio State University. He has studied with acclaimed percussionists Eric Willie, Neeraj Mehta, Kristopher Keeton, Christopher Norton, Susan Powell, and Joseph Krygier as well as drum set and world percussion with Chester Thompson and Todd London, respectively.

Dr. Bunting is proudly a Malletech Performing Artist, an artist/endorser of Zildjian cymbals, Grover Pro Percussion products, and a member of the D’Addario/Evans Education Collective.

An avid solo and chamber performer, Hannah Weaver is passionate about  performing contemporary music and exploring interdisciplinary collaborations, such as her work with visual artist Sarah Hall and choreographer Katrinka Stayton. Hannah believes in the importance of making the arts more accessible to and representative of all people, advocating for this through her programming choices and participation in projects such as the New Quartets Project, for which she and fellow Heartland Marimba Quartet members commissioned six marimba quartets by female composers of diverse backgrounds.

A member of the Heartland Marimba Quartet, Hannah performed with the quartet as soloists with the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra and will be leading the International Marimba Orchestra with her quartet-mates at PASIC 2021 as the culmination of their fall 2021 tour. She also performs in the mixed chamber trio “Odds and Ends” (saxophone, clarinet and percussion), which will release its debut album fall ‘21. Summers of 2016-2018, Hannah was percussion fellow with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, and summer 2019 she attended the Lake George Music Festival as one of two percussion fellows. She has also held fellowships with the Texas Music Festival and the National Repertory Orchestra.

Hannah is Assistant Professor of Percussion at University of Nebraska-Omaha. An open and energetic teacher committed to cultivating her students’ individual musicianship, she previously taught at Virginia Tech during the 2018 spring semester. Hannah has presented clinics at a number of universities, including Virginia Commonwealth University, Bowling Green State University, Radford University, the University of Indianapolis, and Eastern Tennessee State University. She has coached and conducted percussion ensembles at Eastman School of Music, University of Michigan, University of Nebraska-Omaha, Virginia Tech, and University of Rochester.

In November of 2018, Hannah competed in the semifinals of the TROMP International Percussion Competition in Amsterdam. She also placed in the semifinals of the 2009 Paris International Marimba Competition and won the 2014 PASIC Orchestra Mock Audition. In 2015 she was a featured concerto performer with the National Repertory Orchestra, performing Russell Peck’s The Glory and the Grandeur.

Hannah previously held positions as Principal Timpanist for the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic and Second Percussionist for the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra. She has performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Roanoke Symphony and Syracuse Symphoria. She has performed with Renee Fleming, Augustin Hadelich, Orli Shaham, Audra McDonald, Bob Becker, Jennifer Koh, So Percussion, Carol Jantsch, and Michael Burritt. She has had the opportunity to work closely with many great composers, including Steve Reich, Kaija Saariaho, Andrew Norman, Sean Shepherd, Chris Cerrone, Steve Mackey, and Ted Hearne.

Hannah received a B.M. in Percussion Performance from Eastman School of Music, an M.M. in Percussion Performance and an M.M. in Chamber Music from the University of Michigan, and a D.M.A. in Percussion Performance and Literature and the Performer’s Certificate from Eastman. Hannah is an active member of NAfME and PAS and is a proud endorser of Malletech products.

Justin Lamb is an active performer, educator, composer, and arranger from Greenville, South Carolina. In addition to his performances across the US as a solo and chamber musician, Justin can be heard performing on albums The John Psathas Percussion Project, Vol. 1 and Matthew Burtner: Six Ecoacoustic Quintet & Avian Telemetry, in which he extensively collaborated with his former teacher Dr. Omar Carmenates. Committed to contemporary performance and music leadership, Justin previously served as the President of OSSIA New Music, a contemporary ensemble which hosts concerts and events at Eastman and the greater Rochester community, while promoting the music of diverse and vibrant composers.

As an educator and guest clinician, Justin has taught at several schools in the South Carolina/Georgia region, including James F. Byrnes High School (Spartanburg), League Academy (Greenville), and Lakeside High School (Augusta). Additionally, Justin maintains a private teaching studio in Rochester, NY and is also on faculty at the Eastman Community Music School. Outside of his work as a concert artist, Justin has also performed with the World Champion Carolina Crown Drum & Bugle Corps and continues to remain active in the marching arts as an educator and percussion arranger.

When not performing or teaching, Justin works as a freelance audio engineer with his friend and videographer Christopher Amick, having recorded for the Eastman School of Music and Wildlight Publications.

Justin is currently a doctoral candidate at the Eastman School of Music. He previously received his Master’s Degree at the Eastman School along with the prestigious Performer’s Certificate and the Arts Leadership Certificate, and received his Bachelor’s Degree from Furman University. Justin is a proud endorser and performing artist of Malletech instruments and mallets.

Emma Gierszal is an active percussionist, teacher, and arts leader working to promote new music and serve the Rochester, NY community. While earning her DMA at the Eastman School of Music, she teaches Percussion Methods and coaches the Chamber Percussion Ensemble as a teaching assistant, gives percussion lessons at the Hochstein School of Music, and is on the advisory board for the community-oriented new music ensemble, fivebyfive.

Emma began a commitment to promoting new music performing in the John Psathas Percussion Project, a multi-year recording project led by her undergraduate professor, Omar Carmenates. Emma continues to participate in Eastman’s Musica Nova and student-run new music ensemble, Ossia, while also appearing in premiere recordings of Michael Burritt’s new works, spero and Iunctio. Emma also gave the world premier performance of Arnold Marinissen’s Totem IV at the 2019 TROMP Repertoire Day and on her master’s recital.

Emma has attended several summer music festivals including the National Repertory Orchestra and the Grafenegg Academy in 2021. She has also attended the Chautauqua Summer Music Festival in 2019 and The Center for Advanced Musical Studies at Chosen Vale in 2017. In 2018, Emma gave a solo performance at the Sigma Alpha Iota National Convention in Scottsdale, AZ after winning the Mary Ann Starring Memorial Award.

While earning her undergraduate degree in South Carolina, she taught 6th-12th grade band classes as a student teacher, coached middle and high school percussion ensemble, and instructed the front ensemble and drumline for the Mauldin High School Band in 2017 and the Easley High School Band in 2015. Emma’s marching band experience also includes drum majoring with the Furman University Paladin Regiment.

Emma earned her M.M. in Percussion Performance and Literature with an Arts Leadership Certificate at Eastman and her B.M. in Music Education at Furman University in Greenville, SC. Emma has studied with Michael Burritt, Rich Thompson, Chip Ross, James Ross, Brian Kushmaul, Omar Carmenates, and Justin Watt. Emma is a proud Malletech Performing Artist.

Austin Keck is an American percussionist, composer and arranger from Dallas, TX who specializes in contemporary solo and chamber music. As an active performer, Austin has performed all over the United States, and been the featured soloist on numerous concerts and festivals such as the Music for All Summer Symposium in Indianapolis, IN, and the National Percussion Festival in Indianapolis, IN.

Austin has had tremendous success in his young career in several international competitions including 1st prize at the Great Plains International Marimba Competition 2019 and 2016, 1st prize at the 2019 Yamaha Young Performing Artist Competition, and the prestigious Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music.

Austin has performed in a variety of musical genres such as the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps, where he received two Fred Sanford percussion caption awards, and a gold and silver medal at the Drum Corps International World Championships 2017 and 2018. As a composer/arranger Austin strives to push the technical and musical boundaries of classical percussion repertoire and discover new ways of incorporating electronics in  music.

Austin is currently pursuing his Bachelors of Music, Minor in Audio and Music Engineering at the Eastman School of Music under the instruction of Michael Burritt, Chip Ross and Rich Thompson.

Austin is a Malletech Performing Artist.

Dr. Juan (Johnny) Mendoza is currently Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Percussion Studies at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas. As a member of Sympatico Percussion Group, Johnny regularly tours the United States, including performances at the University of South Carolina’s Southern Exposure New Music Series, the Logan Chamber Music Series in Utah, and PASIC 2021. A champion of contemporary percussion and chamber music repertoire, Johnny has worked with such composers as John Fitz Rogers, David Lang, Russell Hartenberger, and Mark Duggan. Some of his recent concert engagements include performing with MAD, his trumpet and percussion duo with Dr. David Amlung, for the McMurry New Music Project and the Heavenly Rest Chamber Music Series. Johnny has appeared as a soloist with the McMurry University Wind Ensemble at Carnegie Hall in 2018, and has performed on series concerts when needed with the Abilene Philharmonic, Newark-Granville Symphony, Mid-Texas Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, and others.

A highly in demand clinician, Johnny has presented at universities and high schools on a variety of topics, including commissioning new music, implementing musicianship, multi-disciplinary collaborations, effective practice techniques, and community engagement through music. Johnny has presented clinics at the Texas Bandmasters Association Convention, and in 2018 selected the Texas All-State Percussion contest repertoire. He frequently adjudicates Solo/Ensemble contests and marching festivals in Texas, and often works with various high school groups in preparation for their contest seasons. Johnny’s research interests include muscle memory consolidation for percussionists, as well as the music of composer Daniel Levitan, the subject of his DMA document, “Daniel Levitan: An Examination of Select Unpitched Percussion Chamber Works.”

Johnny received his Bachelor of Music Degree in percussion performance from the University of Texas – San Antonio, a Master of Music Degree from Belmont University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from The Ohio State University. His primary teachers include Susan Powell, Joseph Krygier, Christopher Norton, and Sherry Rubins. Prior to his appointment at McMurry University, Johnny served on the faculties of Ohio Wesleyan University and Ohio Christian University, respectively. Additionally, he is also currently on faculty at both Hardin-Simmons University and Howard Payne University. Johnny is a proud endorser of Malletech mallets and instruments.

Percussionist Dr. Emily Salgado is active as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician, clinician, and adjudicator. Emily has performed and premiered several works with various ensembles such as the National Chinese Orchestra Taiwan, Twin Lakes Duo, and the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra. Her current project, Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History, features solos written by female composers [Jennifer Jolley, Molly Joyce, Shruthi Rajasekar, and Juri Seo] dedicated to female percussionists [Evelyn Glennie, Margie Hyams, Keiko Abe, Terri Lyne Carrington] whose careers helped shape the field of percussion into what it is today.

In January 2023, Emily formed Twin Lakes Duo with her friend and colleague Jimmy Stagnitti. The duo plans to tour and perform around the U.S. starting in the upcoming school year. Their most recent performance and premiere was of Emma O’Halloran’s percussion duet titled music for the small hours as part of the consortium organized by the New Works Project.

Along with percussion, Emily has also had various opportunities in the field of conducting. She marched with the drum and bugle corps Carolina Crown based out of Fort Mill, SC where she was the assistant drum major for the 2015 season and the head drum major for her age-out season in 2016. Since her age-out, Emily has been working with Crown’s Leadership Camp each summer working with high school drum majors from across the country on basic conductor and leadership skills. She also assists the corps with their drum major auditions every fall. Emily is incredibly fortunate to be returning to the corps as part of the brass staff for the upcoming 2024 DCI season.

Dr. Emily Salgado is currently the Assistant Professor of Percussion at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she teaches both graduate and undergraduate applied lessons, directs the percussion ensemble and Nebraska Steel, and teaches other courses in percussion. Additionally, she serves on the Leadership subcommittee for the Diversity Alliance as part of the Percussive Arts Society, and is proudly endorsed by Malletech Inc. and Black Swamp Percussion.

Kyle Peters is the percussion instructor at the Eastman Community Music School and member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. He received his Master’s of Music in Performance and Literature, as well as the prestigious Performer’s Certificate, from the Eastman School of Music and his Bachelor’s of Music in Music Education from the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam.
Kyle was recently a featured performer in Bejing, China at the National Centre for the Performing Arts for a sold out performance playing alongside Professor Michael Burritt.

At the Eastman Community Music School, Kyle runs a studio averaging 30
students each year. He is the director of three percussion ensembles, and coach of the New Horizons percussion section. He is the percussion instructor at the Summer Classical Studies at Eastman, and a featured artist for their Summer Percussion Program. Other education credits include teaching at undergraduate and graduate level at SUNY Potsdam and director of percussion at Crane Youth Music.

Kyle has been a featured clinician at both the NYSSMA conference and New
York State Band Directors Association symposium and presented masterclasses at the Eastman School of Music and the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, and many schools in the Rochester area.

As a composer, Kyle has released a book of 18 Marimba Etudes titled
Soundscapes: Concert Etudes for Marimba, which he uses as part of his
curriculum at Eastman, and is used in conservatories and music preparatory
schools around the US and worldwide. Other compositions have been premiered at the Brevard Summer Music Fesitval, SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Potsdam, and the Eastman School of Music.

His principal teachers have been Michael Burritt, James Ross, Chip Ross, Jim
Petercsak, Sean Ritenauer, Ross Karre, Catherine Meunier and Ed Reifel.

Kyle is a Malletech/Sabian Performing Artist.

Former LHS Summer Seminar student and newly signed Malletech artist Aaron Williams is a virtuosic multi-instrumentalist who has worked with companies like GoPro, Coca Cola, and Google. His performances have been featured on The Tonight Show, the Super Bowl, and the Winter Olympics, and his educational and performance videos have over 300 million views on YouTube.

In addition to his online and commercial successes, Aaron is a world-class music educator. He holds Level 3 Certification in Orff Schulwerk pedagogy, and he has presented teacher training workshops for AOSA, KIPP Schools, CMEA (California Music Education Association), and several colleges and universities. He is a recipient of the ACEMM Winter Spotlight Award, which is granted for outstanding work in learning communities utilizing music and movement. Aaron has done extensive work as a Band Director, Private Lessons Instructor, and Music Specialist for students ranging in age from 2 to 92.

Caitlin Jones has an active career as both a performer and educator and is proud to be a Malletech Endorser. Currently, she is based out of Tennessee and teaches at Lee University and Southern Adventist University.

 Caitlin has performed in a variety of musical settings including recent seasons with the Augusta Symphony, Charleston Symphony, and the South Carolina Philharmonic Orchestra.

As a soloist, Caitlin has presented recitals across the Southeast United States. In 2018, Caitlin was the marimba soloist for the American premiere of Roumen Boyadjieff, Jr.’s “Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra” with the Cleveland Orchestra of Tennessee. In 2020, she gave the world premiere of “The Long Road,” a solo marimba piece by Andy Harnsberger, at Ouachita Baptist University, and later professionally recorded this work with GreenHaus Productions. She has presented clinics on various topics, including health and wellness for musicians, and has presented at PAS Days of Percussion.

 Caitlin was noted as an “Emerging Leader” by the Percussive Arts Society in 2016 and is a member of the Percussive Arts Society Health and Wellness Committee. She performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) in 2019 and served as a front ensemble technician for the Sacramento Mandarins Drum and Bugle Corps in the 2020 season. Caitlin received her Bachelor of Music from the University of Florida, Master of Music from Lee University, and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of South Carolina.

Sarah Haag is unconventional in many respects: her hair style – spiked and often bright purple, her passion for long distance drives, and her endeavor to overcome a genre bias by playing marimba in rock, folk, and songwriting circles. This freelancing mother in her late thirties forces audiences and players alike to reconsider what is possible with a marimba and a vision.

After being awarded the first-ever scholarship from the Indiana Percussion Association (2000) Sarah studied percussion performance and music education at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. She graduated from BSU’s Honors College in 2004 and married Doug Haag who also studied percussion at BSU. At the time – before the social connectivity and support of other players through platforms like Facebook – she assumed there was no room or reason for having a marimba without a future in teaching or orchestral performance. She sold all but her first two pairs of mallets (Malletech’s Dave Samuels Series) and packed them away entering corporate America. For over a decade she served as a business analyst until resigning at the end of 2014 to focus her attention on being a mother. Her only time spent in music for twelve years was playing bass guitar on various worship teams while her husband played drum set.

In January 2016 she unexpectedly acquired a marimba and a new vision to begin gigging with it outside the walls of conventional recital halls. By the end of 2016, Sarah had performed in venues ranging from a small-town ice cream shop to a metropolitan art district festival. In 2017 she began performing as a duo (Rhythmwood Drive) with her husband Doug adding cajon and other hand percussion. She entered and won the 2018 Hit Like a Girl Contest in the 18+ Concert Category, one of the few contests without an age limit open to non-students.

In late 2016 – just after acquiring her marimba – she connected with hammered dulcimer virtuoso Ted Yoder (also from Indiana) who became a social media sensation with his own unconventional approach, playing rock covers on what is normally considered a folk instrument. Sarah added hammered dulcimer to her own line up and advanced to the top five in the 2018 National Hammer Dulcimer Championship, surprising the folk festival audience with a cover of Meatloaf’s “I’d Do Anything for Love” after less than a year of playing experience.

In 2019 Rhythmwood Drive teamed up with Ted for an aggressive recording agenda of four full-length albums in two years. By April they had recorded Feels Like Home where Sarah is featured on marimba in a cover of Toto’s “Africa” including the iconic keyboard solo. The second album, Lean In, was released in January 2020. This project marks the beginning of an ongoing collaboration (the Ted Yoder Band) in which Sarah uses marimba to give an acoustic full-bodied boost to Ted’s unique songwriting while Doug adds hand percussion. The trio has an ambitious schedule of more than forty live performances across the United States in 2020 alone, in addition to recording two more albums.

With the unique background of collegiate training, a decade in business analysis away from music, and a rare chance at full time freelance performing while balancing life as a wife and mother, Sarah is also passionate about helping young players avoid the mistake she made of walking away from the instrument after college. She recently agreed to serve on the board for Heartland Marimba – a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the presence and opportunities for marimba players and strengthening the available repertoire and professional performance opportunities. With a “why not?” attitude and roadworthy work ethic, Sarah embraces the Henry Van Dyke quote: “Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.”

Sharing the instruments: that is the concept of percussion duo «As One». Crossing musical paths under the eye of composer and conductor Dirk Brossé in 2016, the duo was founded in 2017 by Jessica Peel (1982) and Birgit Eecloo (1991). Ever since, the two musicians were dedicated to perform repertoire strictly within the idea of sharing percussion instruments, exploring repertoire from ‘quatre mains’ on the marimba to sharing complex set-ups for multi-percussion, to form the unique duo they are today. The collaboration between the two vibrant percussionists has resulted in a fascinating and visually outstanding performance. The musicians have shared their unique concept with audiences throughout the country, including performances at diverse events as Parklife (Gent), OdeGand (Gent), Fireplace (Kortrijk), WonderWeekend (Meise) and the ‘Estivales’ in Pairi Daiza. Jessica and Birgit both received their Master’s degree from the Conservatory of Ghent. Their principal percussion teachers were Wim Konink, Frank Nuyts and Gert D’hase. The two percussionists joined numerous masterclasses all over the world and are both alumni of the Leigh Howard Stevens Summer Marimba seminar (New Jersey, US) – cfr. Stevens technique of four mallet playing on the marimba.

Brant Blackard is an active performer, educator, composer and arranger based out of Rochester, New York. Brant has performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention with Blake Tyson in 2012 and the Eastman School of Music Percussion Ensemble, in 2013 and 2017 participating in world premieres of works by Michael Burritt. In 2014, he was the first prize winner of the Great Plains International Marimba Competition. Brant has toured internationally with chamber groups such as the Broadband Ensemble and the Zohn Collective. Performances include works at the soundSCAPE music festival in Maccagno, Italy, the Valencia International Performance Academy and multiple concert series in Guadalajara, Mexico. He served as Principal Timpanist and Percussionist for the Conway Symphony Orchestra from 2010-2012. Brant can be heard on the album Firefish by Blake Tyson.

Brant has taught extensively at High Schools and Middle Schools in the Atlanta, Georgia region and throughout the state of Arkansas. As a guest clinician, he has worked with several universities, such as Western Missouri University, the University of Central Arkansas, and the University of Arkansas at Ft. Smith. His arrangements of classical repertoire for mixed percussion ensembles have been performed at the University of Central Arkansas, the University of Michigan, and the Eastman School of Music. As part of the Frozen Earth Duo with Connor Stevens, Brant has toured extensively, performing and presenting at institutions such as Florida State University, Virginia Tech University, and the Leigh Howard Stevens Marimba Seminar.

Brant Blackard is currently pursuing his Doctorate in Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music. He received his Master’s Degree from the Eastman School of Music along with the prestigious Performer’s Certificate and Milton Schlesinger Prize, and received his Bachelor’s Degree in Percussion Performance and Literature from the University of Central Arkansas. Brant is an endorser and performing artist of Malletech instruments and mallets.

Dr. Connor Stevens is the Assistant Professor of Percussion at the University of Oklahoma. He previously served on the faculties at the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith, the University of Missouri, and the Interlochen Arts Camp.

Connor performs with numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles, including the Fort Smith Symphony, Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, Tulsa Symphony, and Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. Performances have taken him across the U.S. and abroad, including appearances in China, Mexico, Italy, Spain, and Canada.

As a founding member of Frozen Earth Duo, alongside percussionist Brant Blackard, Connor has performed and presented at several colleges and universities, including the Florida State University, Vanderbilt University, the University of South Carolina, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the University of Central Arkansas. The duo has also performed and presented at the 2018 Leigh Howard Stevens Summer Marimba Seminar, Interlochen Arts Academy, 2019 Ontario Day of Percussion, 2017 McCormick Marimba Festival, and the 2016 Atlanta Percussion Symposium.

Connor holds Doctorate and Master’s degrees from the Eastman School of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree from Florida State University. He is an artist/endorser for Malletech instruments and mallets.

Gregory Zuber is the principal percussionist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He has been a member of the orchestra since 1986. With the Met, he has toured the United States, Europe, and Japan, and appeared with the orchestra as a concerto soloist at Carnegie Hall. He performs regularly with the Met Chamber Ensemble. He has taught at The Juilliard School since 1993 and been a coach for the Verbier Music Festival since 2000 where, in addition to teaching, he has been featured performing chamber music. As a recitalist he has performed at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, the Verbier Music Festival, at the Leigh Stevens Marimba Seminar, and the New York Chamber Music festival. He has premiered many works and received works from numerous commissions including those by Seymour Barab, Eric Ewazen, Wayne Petersen, Hsueh-Yung Shen, William Susman, Jude Vaclavik, Alejandro Viñao, and Charles Wuorinen.

Mr. Zuber was born in Boston and grew up in Chicago. As a student he attended the National Music Camp (now the Interlochen Center for the Arts), the Interlochen Arts Academy, the University of Illinois, and graduate school at Temple University. He performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the National Repertory Orchestra and as a Fellow at the Tanglewood Center for the Arts. Before joining the Met he served as Principal Percussionist with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra for one season. His teachers include Tom Siwe at the University of Illinois, James Ross of the Chicago Symphony, and Alan Abel of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Mr. Zuber has the pleasure of performing chamber music with his wife, flutist Patricia Zuber. He has two wonderful daughters!

Mr. Zuber endorses Malletech and plays a Malletech Roadster.

An accomplished, vibraphonist, composer, bassist and producer, Bill Ware studied classical marimba at Montclair State University and jazz at the Harlem Jazzmobile Workshop under the tutelage of Barry Harris. In 1987, he joined the Jazz Passengers, the New York City avant-garde jazz septet founded by saxophonist Roy Nathanson and trombonist Curtis Fowlkes, featuring guitarist Marc Ribot, and performances with vocalists Deborah Harry, Mavis Staples, Elvis Costello, Jimmy Scott, Cuba Gooding, Bob Dorough and others.

Ware’s trio, Vibes, which began as house band of the Knitting Factory’s ‘Late-Night Hang’, for which Ware’s vibes playing was lauded by All About Jazz as brandishing “…the touch of a resilient, serpentine stylist, a master of quiet spectacle.”  In the 1990’s Ware’s Club Bird All-Stars held a three-month residency at Club Bird in Yokohama, Japan, and later perform widely and record the album Long & Skinny which remains a classic of the genre. Bill also delved into the burgeoning acid jazz scene as an original member of Groove Collective, the seminal acid jazz band dominating the Giant Steps scene in New York City. While with, Groove Collective, Ware was ‘discovered’ by renowned Steely Dan producer Gary Katz who introduced Bill to Steely Dan, and from 1993-95, Ware toured with the Dan for its first live dates in a generation, recording the album Alive in America along the way.

Ware’s own projects in the new millennium include his Y2K Quartet which recorded Keeping Up with the Jones, also recording the Duke Ellington tribute Sir Duke as a duo with Marc Ribot. Bill also formed the band Groove Thing, with saxophonist Jay Rodriguez from Groove Collective and featuring Debby Harry in two albums including The Adventure, and This is No Time. Ware went on to independently produce Deborah Harry and continue to take the helm for his own studio projects including for his full electric band.

As a sideman, Ware joined Bobby Previte’s New Bump Quartet and among many other collaborations, Ware recorded two albums as a member of the Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet, whose debut release Natural Selection earned four stars in Downbeat, among other accolades. After thrilling audiences at the 2010 Newport Jazz Festival, the Quartet embarked on international tours and later released their second album, Intents and Purposes in 2015.  In 2018, Ware was invited by renowned bassist and composer, Mickey Bass, to join his New York Powerhouse Ensemble, a bebop sextet playing all Bass originals where Bill enjoys the supporting chordal role.

Beyond performance, Bill has made important inroads as a composer in both contemporary classical music and film scoring. His orchestral adventures began with a request for orchestrations of the Deborah Harry – Jazz Passengers songbook for performances with orchestra. He has also composed three classical symphonies, multiple concerti, numerous soundtracks and other works, including several hybrid classical/jazz projects of various iconic classical works by way of Ware’s jazz orchestrations in collaboration with cellist, Sara Wollan.

Ware’s film compositions, alone and in collaboration with Roy Nathanson, include scores to Martin and Orloff, Raising Victor Vargas, Undefeated, Excess Baggage, Singularity, and Hal Wilner’s A Tribute to Harold Arlen.  He also arranged the Jazz Passengers’ music for their live performances set to the Universal cult classic, the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

In 2019, Bill moved to the Hudson Valley, New York and began shifting his focus towards film scoring once again.  He composed an original score for the animated German, silent film by Charlotte “Lotte” Reiniger, The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) and in 2021 he composed and created a new original score for The Spanish Dancer (1923), a costume drama set in the Spanish court of King Philip the Fourth starring Pola Negri, commissioned by Milestone Films and the Eye FilmMuseum, released on BluRay in 2023.

In 2024, Bill will take his Club Bird All-Stars into Van Gelder Recording Studio to record new compositions inspired in part by Bill’s film score work from the Covid-19 Pandemic. The newest iteration of the Club Bird All-Stars will feature guitarist Rez Abbasi, with Matt King on piano, Jay Anderson on bass, and Taru Alexander on drums.

W. Lee Vinson is a multifaceted classical percussionist, music educator, and snare drum historian with an extensive background in symphony orchestra performance. From 2007 through 2011 he was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and from 2000 to 2004 served as a member of the United States Navy Band in Washington, DC. In 2012 Mr. Vinson performed as assistant timpanist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra on their tour of Ontario and Quebec, and in 2013 performed with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall as part of the Spring for Music festival. He has also appeared as an extra percussionist with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony the Kansas City Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Nashville Symphony, and the Alabama Symphony.

A dedicated music educator, Vinson was a guest lecturer at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York during the 2014 – 2015 academic year and also served on the music faculty of the University of Kansas in an adjunct capacity. He was previously a faculty member at Boston University and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and in the summer of 2011 taught at the Interlochen Arts Camp. He presently serves as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Percussion at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music in Nashville, Tennessee.

As a clinician and guest artist Mr. Vinson has appeared at colleges and universities across the United States including the Eastman School of Music, the University of Michigan, Florida State University, Indiana University, Michigan State University, the Hartt School, the Boston Conservatory, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In 2015 he presented a masterclass in Seoul, South Korea and gave a series of clinics across southern Poland including classes at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, the Academy of Music in Krakow, and the Karol Lipinski Academy in Wroclaw.

A versatile chamber musician and soloist, Vinson has performed with the southern California-based chamber music ensemble Camerata Pacifica, at the Cortona Sessions for New Music in Cortona, Italy, and with Nashville’s Intersection new music ensemble. In the Spring of 2018 he was a featured soloist with the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra (AL) performing Eckhard Kopetzki’s Concerto for Marimba and Strings.

Mr. Vinson is active within the Percussive Arts Society as a two-term member of the Symphonic Committee and was formerly Vice President of the Massachusetts Chapter. He has appeared at the PAS Day of Percussion in Maryland, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Kansas, and in the Fall of 2009 was a featured symphonic clinician at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. At the 2010 Convention, he organized and moderated the Symphonic Panel Discussion entitled “Orchestral Percussion in the College Curriculum” and at PASIC 2016 presented a snare drum masterclass entitled “The Etudes That Make Us.”

An avid vintage and antique snare drum collector and historian, Mr. Vinson has contributed articles to Not So Modern Drummer Magazine and Percussive Notes. His personal snare drum collection numbers greater than seventy instruments, more than fifty of which were manufactured in Boston dating from the 1860s through the 1930s. In 2011 he authored and designed BostonDrumBuilders.com, a website dedicated to researching and preserving the instruments produced by the early 20th century Boston-based drum makers.

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Lee holds a bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music where he was a student of John Beck, and did graduate study at Boston University. He also attended summer music festivals at Interlochen, Tanglewood, and the Brevard Music Center.

Dr. Andrea Venet is a percussion artist, educator, and composer specializing in contemporary and classical genres. She is currently Assistant Professor of Percussion and Area Coordinator at the University of North Florida, where she directs the UNF percussion ensemble, teaches applied lessons, pedagogy, methods and percussion literature. As a passionate educator, Dr. Venet’s research involves pedagogy, with focus on college percussion education at various levels, classical improvisation and historically informed Baroque performance practice techniques for Bach on marimba. Her creative activity includes performance, composition, and commissioning new works.

As a soloist, chamber musician, and clinician, Andrea maintains an active performance schedule nationally and internationally. Venet has been a featured performer in Japan at Kyoto City University of the Arts, with SNL percussionist Valerie Naranjo, Ivan Trevino, at the Celebrate Marimba Festival with the Kutztown University Symphony, the Lawson Ensemble, Project Trio, the Eastman Percussion Ensemble, was a member of the award winning Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps, and performed with Grammy winning alternative band TOOL.

Dr. Venet’s percussion duo, Escape Ten (with Dr. Annie Stevens, Virginia Tech), maintains a steady performance schedule touring as guest artists and clinicians internationally. Through collaboration with composer Eric Guinivan, they are the recipients of a marimba duo commission entitled Illuminations (2018), awarded from the prestigious Fromm Foundation. In 2016 they performed a standing-room only Showcase Concert at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, giving 3 world premieres by Aurél Hollo, Joe Locke, and Michael Burritt. These works will be released on their second album My Favorite Things. In addition to regular appearances at percussion festivals and universities across the country, Escape Ten has been featured artists in Trinidad, the Barnes Foundation, Leigh Howard Stevens ​Summer ​Marimba Seminar, Heartland Marimba Festival, Rhea Miller Concert Series, Musica Viva Concert Series, McCormick Marimba Festival, Interlochen, the International Trombone Festival, ​VMEA, ​and the Virginia Humanities Conference. Escape Ten has collaborated with composers that include Michael Burritt, Alejandro Viñao, Ivan Trevino, Emmanuel Séjourné, Joe Locke, Aurél Hollo, Steve Danyew, Steve Ridley​,​ Drew Worden​, and Kelly Rossum. ​Escape Ten has their own publication series of new percussion duos through Keyboard Percussion Publications (KPP). You can hear Escape Ten on their first album Colours of a Groove.

Andrea holds a DMA in Performance and Literature with a minor in Pedagogy, and the prestigious Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. She received her Masters in Percussion Performance from Rutgers University and a Bachelors of Music from Arizona State University. Her compositions and arrangements can be found through Keyboard Percussion Publications (KPP), Tapspace, and self-published via her website. Andrea is an active member of the Percussive Arts Society, where she currently serves as Florida Chapter President, is a performing Malletech artist, and proudly endorses Remo and DREAM Cymbals.

Heather Thorn resides in Orlando, Florida where she works as a freelance percussionist and performs with her band Vivacity, which features her on the xylophone. She has a private studio of more than 45 percussion students and works regularly as a clinician and guest artist in many schools and universities. Heather performs with the Walt Disney Orchestra and the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, at Sea World’s Christmas Celebration where she leads a jazz quartet, and with Michael Andrew and Swingerhead. She also presents frequent shows at the Timucua Arts White House and Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts, including her Nostalgia Radio Hour stage show.

Heather holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance with a Minor in Theatre from Ithaca College. She was a member of the PAS 50th Anniversary Marimba Orchestra under the baton of Gordon Stout. Heather has performed with the Asheville and Fayetteville Symphonies and has appeared as a soloist with several university percussion ensembles, and she was a proud member of Gordon Stout’s Marimba Band for two years. Her teachers include Gordon Stout, Bob Becker and Byron Hedgepeth.

Heather has a passionate interest in the history of xylophone and worked with Bill Cahn to digitize and preserve nearly 1500 recordings of xylophone and percussion music from 1898-1929. The project was completed in 2015.

Annie Stevens, an active soloist and chamber musician throughout the U.S. and internationally, is the Associate Professor of Percussion at Virginia Tech, member of the Escape Ten Duo, and Principal Timpanist of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra. Annie has performed and lectured at over 40 universities, numerous international conferences, and was featured on NPR’s “Performance Today.” As an educator, Annie’s students have won several awards and competitions, including acceptance into Carnegie Hall’s prestigious NYO2 and NYO touring orchestras, winning first place at the Percussive Arts Society Chamber Music Competition at PASIC, and being awarded full scholarships for graduate study after completing their degrees at Virginia Tech. In 2023, she was awarded the Alumni Enterprise Award from the Music Academy of the West.

As a member of the percussion duo Escape Ten, Annie maintains an active performance calendar around the United States and abroad, having recently given  performances in 2024 in Montreal, Texas, Delaware and Indiana, as well as giving the U.S. premiere of John Psathas’ double concerto, The All-Seeing Sky, in 2023 with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra. Escape Ten has released several video recordings, publishes new works under the Escape X Series through Keyboard Percussion Publications, and their Escape Ten Signature Mallets are available through Malletech. The duo has also performed a keyboard showcase concert at the 2016 PASIC, the Leigh Howard Stevens Summer Marimba Festival, Atlanta’s prestigious Spivey Hall, Orlando’s Steinmetz Hall, the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, Jacksonville’s Cummer Museum, and numerous universities in the U.S. and abroad. They have released two albums, Colours of a Groove and Our Favorite Things.

As the principal timpanist for the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, she was recognized as “impeccably responsive” by the Roanoke Times. She has also performed with the festival orchestras of the Music Academy of the West, the National Orchestral Institute, the Aspen Music Festival, Ensemble Evolution with the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Metropolis Ensemble, and the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra (Florida).

As an advocate for new percussion solos and chamber music, Annie has been a part of commissioning over 45 new works for percussion. She has been featured in performances at the International Computer Music Conference, the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the U.S., and the New Interfaces for Musical Expression conference. She performs in a faculty quartet, October Sky, whose mission is to actively commission, record, and perform works for tenor, violin, cello, and percussion. Their debut album, October Skies, was released on the MSR Label in 2023.

Annie’s primary teachers include Michael Burritt, Alan Abel, Chip Ross, Bill Cahn, She-e Wu, and Tom McGowan, and she holds degrees from Northwestern University (B.M.), Rutgers University (M.M.) and The Eastman School of Music (D.M.A). Annie endorses Malletech, Remo, Black Swamp Percussion, and Dream Cymbals and Gongs, and she is the Chapter President for the Percussive Arts Society, Virginia/D.C. Region. She lives in Blacksburg, VA with her husband and violinist, John Irrera, and their two daughters.

“… a jazz artist of the highest level — a deep thinker
with an interest in pushing the vibraphone more into the focus of jazz fans and enthusiasts.”

— Behn Gillece

Anthony Smith has been performing, arranging, composing and producing music professionally for 25 years. As a pianist, keyboardist and vibraphonist, he has worked with many well-known artists in the world of jazz, and also pop, rock and a variety of other genres. In addition to working as a sideman in a large number of both local and touring groups, Anthony has led many of his own bands, performing extensively throughout the U.S., and also abroad on occasion.

Anthony is also a prolific composer and writer, having written and produced numerous albums, screenplays, stage plays, and a 700-page memoir titled The Lizard Stays in the Cage, published in 2013. His latest work is a series of conversation with today’s living jazz vibraphonists, titled Masters of the Vibes, and published by Marimba Productions, Inc.

He served for years on the jazz faculty at San Diego State University, where he earned a Masters Degree in 2010, and was the regular keyboardist for The Mighty Untouchables, one of San Diego’s premier variety pop/rock acts. Anthony also performed regularly for many years with a who’s who of San Diego’s finest jazz musicians, appearing live at many of the city’s top clubs and venues on an ongoing basis.

In 2014, Anthony relocated to New York City with his wife and two sons, and is currently establishing himself in the East Coast’s vibrant jazz scene, as both a vibraphonist and pianist.

Heigo Rosin (1989) is the first solo percussionist to emerge out of Estonia. Despite his young age he has appeared frequently as a soloist with numerous orchestras and solo recitals in all over the Europe and the USA.

In 2015 Heigo was accepted into the Sponsorship Program of the Orpheum Foundation for the Advancement of Young Soloists. In the same year Heigo was also selected as principal percussionist with full scholarship to the World Percussion Group tour in the USA. In January 2017 he made his debut in New York in Carnegie Hall. Since 2016, Heigo is endorsed by Malletech Instruments and Sabian Cymbals. Since 2017 Heigo is head of Percussion department in Heino Eller Tartu Music High School.

Heigo Rosin started his musical studies in the age of 4 on piano. For now he owns two Bachelor and two Masters degrees in percussion (from Estonia and Belgium) and postgraduate soloist diploma from Denmark.

During his years of studies Heigo has participated in numerous master classes of teachers and educators from all over the world. In addition to that he has had personal percussion sessions with the world famous solo percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie. Heigo has been awarded through various competitions included the 2nd Prize at the Rising Stars Grand Prix 2017 in Berlin, 1st Prize at the Contemporary Music Competition De Linkprijs in the Netherlands (2013), 1st Prize at the Yamaha Scholarship Competition for Percussion (2013), 2nd Prize at the Estonian TV competition “Classical Stars” (2013).

Over ten years of karate practice has inspired Heigo to combine the  movements of karate with his percussion playing. This unique aspect of his playing has given Heigo two nicknames: “Percussion Athlete” and “The Karate Kid of Percussion” and makes his performances extraordinary not only to hear but to see.

Susan Powell is currently Associate Professor and Director of Percussion Studies at Ohio State University. She has performed as a solo and chamber musician in Mexico, Poland, Lithuania, Sweden, Czech Republic, Germany, England and Japan, in addition to numerous appearances across the U.S. Powell specializes in the areas of multiple and keyboard percussion, and is considered one of the foremost ragtime xylophone soloists of her generation. She has presented sessions at the Percussive Arts Society Conventions, Ohio Music Educator Association conferences as well as the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, and has performed with such ensembles as the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Wintergreen Festival Orchestra in Virginia, and the new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound.

In 2006 Powell was named one of ten recipients university-wide of the OSU Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching, and has also been honored as the 2003 School of Music Distinguished Teacher. Since her hire at OSU, Powell has led the percussion program to national recognition, with the Percussion Ensemble being named a winner in the PAS International Percussion Ensemble Competition in both 2005 and 2008. She currently serves as a member of the Percussive Arts Society Percussion Ensemble Committee and has appeared at numerous past conventions as performer, clinician, panelist and competition judge. Additionally, she hosted the 2002 PASIC convention in Columbus.

Prior to teaching at Ohio State, Powell held a one-year appointment at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and has also taught and performed at the Ameropa Chamber Music Festival in Prague and at the Interlochen Center for the Arts Summer Camp. She is an active composer of works for percussion and is a performing artist for Malletech keyboard instruments and mallets and an educational endorser for Zildjian and Grover Pro Percussion. She holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (BM) and Northwestern University (MM, DM).

Thanks to their father, drummer by trade himself, Vanessa & Jessica Porter came in contact with music and the vast world of percussion instruments from a very young age. The duo however didn’t form until 2009 to partake in the nationally renown competition (Jugend Musiziert). There they not only won first place nationally but also received various advancement awards. As a result the duo was accepted into the German Music Foundation (Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben) and the Karl-Jegg-Foundation and mad guest appearances at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Young Euro Classics, the KALIMA Festival, the ADAMS Festival and at Stars of Tomorrow (Stars von Morgen).

In 2016 the duo reached first place at the PAS Italy’s PercussiveArtsWebContest and were awarded with the Radio-Kulturnachtpreis Ulm/Neu-Ulm.

PercussionDuo Jessica & Vanessa now hold a very versatile repertoire and are thereby able to vary their emphasis for different concerts. With a passion for new music the duo also features pieces by notable composers of the past 50 years; Mauricio Kagel, Steve Reich and Nikolaus A. Huber to name a few. The pair also experiments with interpretations far across the boundaries of genres. Classical literature by J.S.Bach, Claude Debussy or Astor Piazolla build the contrast to modern compositions for the drum set.

Live electronics and improvisation have both become valuable assets and create a most welcome add-on in the sisters arsenal. Scenic and music-theatrical presentation are a given in the duos performances.

Regardless of genres, the duos concerts are an experience for all the senses. Experimental or classical, minimal music or popular music, the young musicians thrill their audience through sonic depth, expression and virtuosity.

Both sisters are also high in demand as educators. They frequently receive invitations to act as speakers at cultural conferences of the ministry for Baden-Würtemberg and conduct workshops at various schools all over southern Germany. Both also regularly teach at the Landesakademien in Weikersheim and Ochsenhausen.

After countless international master classes and an Erasmus at the Royal College of Music in London, both sisters graduated with distinction from the Hochschule fur Musik und dartstellende Kunst in Stuttgart, Germany.

Both sisters currently live and work in Stuttgart.

Christopher Norton is Professor of Music and Director of Percussion Studies at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Prior to joining the Belmont faculty in 2001, he taught at Western Kentucky University for fourteen years. His bachelor’s and master’s degrees are from the Eastman School of Music, and his doctorate is from Louisiana State University. Norton performs regularly as a percussionist with Nashville Symphony, Alias Chamber Ensemble, Sympatico Percussion Group, and the Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra. Formerly, he performed, recorded, and toured with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra, Bob Becker Ensemble, and the Jack Daniel’s Silver Cornet Band. He has held core and auxiliary positions with the Rochester Philharmonic, Virginia Symphony, Baton Rouge Symphony, Alabama Symphony, and Eastern Philharmonic.

Norton’s solo marimba cd Christopher Norton: Creston Concertino for Marimba features several first edition recordings of twentieth-century American works. In 2012, Norton and his wife Leslie, Principal Horn of the Nashville Symphony, released This Road We’re On, a cd of horn-percussion duos they commissioned over the past twenty-five years. In 2011, Alias Chamber Ensemble was nominated for a Grammy for their disk featuring music of Gabriela Frank and including the premier recording of Danza de los Saqsampillos for two marimbas. Norton played percussion on several Nashville Symphony projects including the Grammy award-winning recording of the music of Michael Daugherty.

Dr. Norton has given clinics and recitals in Europe and across the United States, most notably as a featured artist at several Percussive Arts Society International Conventions and Days of Percussion. A past state chapter president of PAS, Norton currently serves as Chairman of the Keyboard Percussion Committee. His compositions are often listed on required repertoire for international marimba competitions and are published by Alabaster Music, Innovative Percussion, and Pioneer Percussion. He is a Malletech artist.

Also an active orchestral conductor, Norton is Music Director of the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra. He held a similar post with the Bowling Green Western Symphony Orchestra and has guest conducted the Nashville Symphony, Nashville Chamber Orchestra, Nashville Ballet, and several university orchestras. He was one of five conductors participating in the Nashville Symphony’s performance of Charles Ives’s Universe Symphony for their recent Carnegie Hall tour.

Mr. G. James Miller holds a Master of Science Degree from Full Sail University (2011), a Master of Arts Degree in Music from Columbia University Teachers College (1985) and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from William Paterson College (1983). Mr. Miller has served in many of the tri-state area schools as an educator, writer and clinician for more than 35 years.

Mr. Miller has composed for and taught many Drum and Bugle Corps such as the Skyliners (NY), Hurricanes (CT), Westshoremen (PA), Chieftains (PA), Bridgemen (NJ), the Star of Indiana (IN) and, most notably, the Bushwackers (NJ) – who were awarded the “Best Percussion” award at the world championships for five consecutive years. His writing credits also include percussion ensemble works performed by several University Percussion Ensembles, his exercises and ensemble works have been published and distributed world wide and he has authored two books on percussion technique, and several articles published in trade magazines.

G. James Miller has been a finalist for the Teacher of the Year in Stratford CT, where he is currently employed (since 1986) as the Director of Music at Frank Scott Bunnell High School. At Bunnell he directs the Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, the National Champion Indoor Drumline and the 14-time Connecticut State Champion Marching Band.

Kathy Marvin has been a percussion instructor and clinician for the past 25 years. Receiving the Fiske Scholarship, she studied with Terry Smith and Doug Walter at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Business from the University of Colorado, Denver.

Currently she is a percussion instructor at numerous high schools in Colorado. She has been the front ensemble caption head for Northglenn High School (Percussion Theatre) for the past 25 years, earning 19 State titles with the marching band, 14 Rocky Mountain Percussion Association Scholastic World Gold medals since 1995, WGI Scholastic World Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals, as well as WGI World Championships Fan Favorite Award in 2010 and 2015.

In 2010, Kathy was inducted into the Rocky Mountain Percussion Association Hall of Fame.

Along with her high school teaching, she has an active private lesson percussion studio, and in the summer,  enjoys being a clinician for Yamaha Sounds of Summer camps. Her first one was in 1989 with Fred Sanford.

Kathy enjoys working with her husband, Dave, on coordinating the Denver Broncos Stampede, the first official NFL Drumline. Since 2003, this outstanding group performs at all Denver Broncos home games as well as private and corporate functions.

Along with the Stampede, they also produce a number of high profile percussion groups for their company, Party Crashers, LLC. The newest, Beauty and the Beats, is America’s first professional, all female drumline. Joining Trash Talk and Grooved Pavement, the non-stop energy and unique instrumentation of these groups have quickly changed the entertainment landscape in Colorado and beyond.

Kathy is a clinician/marching artist for Yamaha Percussion and Malletech eMotion Sticks and Mallets.

Dave Marvin has been involved with the marching percussion activity for more than 40 years. At age 11, he began marching, and now teaches, writes, designs, clinics, and judges for groups Nationwide. His arrangements and design consulting sessions are highly sought after in the percussion community. In 2008, Dave was inducted into the Hall of Fame for both WGI and the Rocky Mountain Percussion Association.

Dave is the Director/Arranger of the Denver Broncos Stampede, the first official drumline of the NFL. Since 2003, this outstanding group performs at all Denver Broncos home games, as well as private and corporate functions. He spent 39 years as the Percussion Director at Internationally acclaimed Northglenn High School (Percussion Theatre). In that time, Northglenn earned 19 State titles, WGI Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals, as well as WGI Fan Favorite Awards in 2010 and 2015. Dave currently directs the Longmont High School Winter Percussion Ensemble. Longmont is a five-time WGI Finalist. Marvin is also the mastermind behind the show concepts and visual coordination for the four-time WGI World Champion Blue Knights World Percussion Ensemble from 1999 through 2005.

Dave has written/arranged and taught for the Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps, Troopers Drum and Bugle Corps, United States Air Force Drum and Bugle Corps, and the University of Colorado Marching Band.

Dave served as President of the Rocky Mountain Percussion Association for over ten years and  the WGI Steering committee for over 15 years.

Along with his wife Kathy, they now produce a number of high profile percussion groups for their company, Party Crashers, LLC. The newest, Beauty and the Beats, is America’s first professional, all female drumline. Joining Trash Talk and Grooved Pavement, the non-stop energy and unique instrumentation of these groups have quickly changed the entertainment landscape in Colorado and beyond.

Dave is a clinician/artist for Yamaha Percussion, Zildjian Cymbals, Evans Drum Heads, and Malletech eMotion Sticks and Mallets.

Thomas Marceau is currently the director of percussion studies at Suffolk Community College, director of the Young Artist Percussion Ensemble at Stony Brook University, adjunct professor of percussion at Five Towns College, and director of bands at Mt. Sinai High School. Dr. Marceau is a member of the Education Committee for the Percussive Arts Society, Vice President for the PAS New York Chapter, and a chairperson for the SCMEA Day of Percussion.

Tom has been on the music faculty at Finger Lakes Community College, NEMC, and was the graduate teaching assistant for Gordon Stout at Ithaca College. He holds degrees from Stony Brook University (DMA), Ithaca College (MM), and the Crane School of Music (BM).

As a commissioned composer, his works are included on collegiate and competition repertoire lists around the world. Most recently, his music was added to the Great Plains International Marimba Competition’s repertoire list, the Southern California Marimba Competition’s repertoire list, New York State’s NYSSMA manual for contest solos, and the Indiana State School Music Association Percussion Manual. His works have been premiered in Europe, Japan, and throughout the United States. Marceau’s compositions have been described in the Percussive Arts Society as “Beautifully Stunning” – T. Adam Blackstock, “graceful, pretty, and expressive” – Brian Zator, and Eric Willie writes, “Marceau has provided a great addition to marimba repertory, blending powerful musicality with a great display of idiomatic writing.” He is a published through HoneyRock Publishing and Tapspace.

Tom is an active performer and clinician, giving performances and master classes throughout the East Coast. This past year he gave the New York premier of Keiko Abe’s, The Song of Trees, at the NYC Day of Percussion, served as a guest artist and performer at the Heartland Marimba Festival, and as a member of the Percussion Alchemy Duo, premiered Adam Silverman’s, Rule of Five for Percussion Duo and Wind Ensemble. Tom’s first solo album for marimba, Moments, was released in 2015 through HoneyRock Publishing.

Payton MacDonald is a percussionist who works across a wide range of musical disciplines. He was a founding member of Alarm Will Sound, a new-music chamber orchestra. Alarm Will Sound is currently regarded as one of the foremost new music ensembles in the country, with multiple recordings and performances all over the globe. He has also appeared as a soloist in many countries, performed with Present Music and the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, Verederos flute and percussion duo, and toured Japan with Keiko Abe and the Galaxy percussion group.

MacDonald has dedicated much of career to expanding the art of marimba playing. To that end he has commissioned many works from other composers, including Charles Wuorinen, Robert Morris, Caleb Burhans, Don Freund, Peter Jarvis, Elliott Sharp, David Saperstein, Michael Udow, Stuart Saunders Smith, Gene Pritsker, and many others. MacDonald is also one of the few marimbists in the world who is a dedicated improviser. He frequently improvises entire performances, and works with other notable improvisers, including Billy Martin, Elliott Sharp, Aakash Mittal, Kevin Norton, Peter Evans, Tim Feeney, Todd Sickafoose, Theo Metz, and many others. MacDonald has released several recordings and YouTube videos of his improvisations. MacDonald has also performed and recorded on marimba with acclaimed singer/songwriter Noe Venable. MacDonald has released five solo marimba recordings on a variety of labels.

As a composer, numerous ensembles have performed MacDonald’s music around the world, including Alarm Will Sound, Los Angeles Philharmonic, JACK Quartet, New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, C4 choir, So Percussion, To Hit Duo, Young Voices of Colorado, Quintet Mont Royal, Classical Jam, Composers Concordance Ensemble, guitarists Mak Grgic and Eliot Fisk, tabla soloist Shawn Mativetsky, accordionist Bill Schimmel, French hornist John Clark,  and frame drummer Glen Velez. He has received grants and awards from ASCAP, Meet the Composer, American Music Center, American Institute of Indian Studies, as well as fellowships from Yaddo and Ragdale. He has also composed music for the Silken Dance Company and for filmmaker Susan Skoog.

MacDonald also enjoys parallel careers as an award-winning filmmaker, an East Indian Dhrupad singer, and an ultra-endurance mountain biker. He’s very busy.

Career Highlights

• PASIC Showcase concert 2011 (solo marimba) and 2018 (with New Jersey Percussion Ensemble)
• Fulbright Fellowship 2013-2014
• Carnegie Hall Performance of his own percussion concerto with Alarm Will Sound 2009
• Performance of own percussion concerto with Los Angeles Philharmonic 2010
• Acclaimed solo marimba recordings 2003 – present

Jon D. Lee is an Adjunct Lecturer of Percussion at the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University and is the Director of the Meadows Percussion Ensemble. He is an active performer, educator, clinician, and adjudicator. He is the principal timpanist of the Garland Symphony, Symphony Arlington, and the Las Colinas Symphony Orchestras. He performs regularly with the Dallas Wind Symphony, Plano Symphony Orchestra, East Texas Symphony, Richardson Symphony Orchestra, Lewisville Lake Symphony Orchestra, Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra, The Voices of Change and many others.

At SMU, Lee also teaches a percussion techniques class and is the drumline instructor-arranger for the SMU Mustang Band. In addition to his responsibilities at Meadows, Lee maintains a private studio of fifty percussion students in Plano and surrounding areas. His students have excelled at all levels and have been accepted into the finest music schools in the world, including the Meadows School of the Arts, University of North Texas, New England Conservatory, and the Juilliard School of Music.

Lee has been on the faculty of the University of Texas at Arlington, the Stephen F. Austin Percussion Symposium, Marimba Madness, and the Leigh Howard Stevens Pre-College Marimba Seminar. He is a member of the Percussive Arts Society and the Texas Music Educators Association. Lee holds a B.M. degree from the University of North Texas and an M.M. degree from the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU and has done post-graduate work at the University of North Texas.

American percussionist Cameron Leach is a bold, high-energy performer recognized for his expressive virtuosity, musical athleticism, and daring interpretations. An engaging and thoughtful soloist, Leach has concertized across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. He has appeared at some of the world’s finest institutions, including the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Royal Northern College of Music, Sibelius Academy, and the Norwegian Academy of Music. Leach is the winner of both the Percussive Arts Society International Solo Artist Competition and Yamaha Young Performing Artist Competition, and was awarded the prestigious Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. Along with his active touring schedule, he regularly performs with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and is a newly appointed faculty member at Kent State University’s Hugh A. Glauser School of Music. Leach is endorsed by Black Swamp Percussion, Beetle Percussion, Sabian Cymbals, and Malletech.

Highlights from the 2017-2018 season include the debut of his new electroacoustic solo show ELISION, a European Tour as Co-Principal of the World Percussion Group, the world premiere of Paul Lansky’s Metal Light for the Percussive Arts Society, and a performance of Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto with the Eastman Wind Ensemble. Additionally, he performed Peter Maxwell Davies’ seminal Eight Songs for a Mad King with Ensemble id, a Rochester, NY-based chamber collective. His latest project, the Leach | Peters Percussion Duo, debuted on the Eastman Summer Concert Series in July 2018.

Leach’s 2018-2019 season is marked by an array of solo appearances, guest artist engagements, and world premieres. Kicking off with a performance at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, China, Leach then embarks on recital and clinic tours of California, Florida, and the Midwest, featuring newly commissioned solo works by David Skidmore and Matt Curlee. In March 2019, Leach will give the world premiere of Dave Maric’s Percussion Concerto, commissioned for him by the Capital University Conservatory of Music. To close out the season, Leach will serve on faculty at the MalletLab Summer Intensive in West Palm Beach, FL, and will spend a week in residence as the featured artist for the Space City New Music Festival in Houston, TX. Looking ahead, Leach will make his concerto debut with the Grammy-nominated Dallas Winds during the 2019-2020 season.

Devoted to the creation and performance of new music, Leach continues to commission diverse works for solo percussion, with a special focus on the inclusion of electronics. During his time at the Eastman School of Music, Leach was named an inaugural winner of the Eastman/ArtistShare Partnership, allowing him to commission Matt Curlee’s massive Decay No. 2 for solo percussion and electronics. His latest commissioning project, David Skidmore’s I Leave You the Real World for solo vibraphone and electronics, brought together a consortium of 50+ percussionists from all over the world. Leach has premiered pieces by Michael Burritt, Paul Lansky, Jeff Tyzik, Alejandro Viñao, Annie Gosfield, Tim Feeney, Jon Lin Chua, and Frédéric Chiasson.

Leach makes regular appearances at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, having performed with the Eastman Percussion Ensemble and on the Competition Winner’s Showcase Concert in 2017, on the Focus Day Series and as a member of the All-Star International Percussion Ensemble in 2015, and with the Rhythm X Indoor Percussion Ensemble in 2011. In addition to his work as a concert artist, Leach also has a strong background in marching percussion, having won world titles with the Blue Devils Drum & Bugle Corps and Rhythm X.

Career Highlights

• WGI 2013 World Champion with the Rhythm X Indoor Percussion Ensemble
• DCI 2014 World Champion with the Blue Devils Drum & Bugle Corps
• Winner of the 2017 Yamaha Young Performing Artist Competition
• Winner of the 2017 Black Swamp Percussion Solo Competition
• Co-Principal for the 2017 World Percussion Group’s European Tour
• Winner of the 2017 PAS International Solo Artist Competition
• Adjunct Professor at Kent State University, Fall 2018
• Endorsed by Malletech, Sabian, Black Swamp Percussion, and Beetle Percussion

David Hall has been Assistant Principal Percussionist and Assistant Principal Timpanist with the Grand Rapids Symphony since 1987. As one of America’s leading marimbists, David has been delighting audiences with his virtuosity and musical sensitivity. In addition to his many recitals throughout the Midwest, David often solos with the Grand Rapids Symphony and other West Michigan arts organizations. He has toured as a soloist in Taiwan, in Guatemala, and together with the North American Choral Company.

A native of Concord, Massachusetts, David completed his undergraduate studies at Ithaca College, where he studied with Gordon Stout and was a three-time winner of the college’s Annual Concerto Competition. He received his master’s degree in music from the Eastman School where he also was awarded a Performer’s Certificate. His 2000 compact disc, Saudação!, featuring the Grand Rapids Symphony, is one of the most popular marimba recordings today.

David served as Acting Assistant Professor of Percussion at Michigan State University from 2003-05 and at Central Michigan University in the fall of 2008. He is a member of the Michigan Touring Artist Roster and is represented by Great Lakes Performing Artist Associates. David lives in the Forest Hills area with his wife, Caroline, and two sons, Benjamin and Evan.

Dave Hagedorn is an Artist in Residence at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, where he teaches percussion, jazz studies, and world music. St. Olaf Jazz I won the DownBeat magazine award for best undergraduate college large jazz ensemble in 2011.

Hagedorn holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, the New England Conservatory, and the University of Minnesota. He has a duo album, Horizons, with pianist Dan Cavanagh, released in 2010, and a trio recording, Solid/Liquid on the artegra label in SACD format released in October of 2003. He has recorded with Brian Setzer, on the 2009 release Songs from the Lonely Avenue, the George Russell Living Time Orchestra on Blue Note Recordings (“The African Game,” nominated for a Grammy® award), jazz singer Debbie Duncan on Igmod Recordings, and also with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra on Teldec Recordings.

Hagedorn regularly performs in the Twin Cities with groups such as the Phil Hey Quartet, Pete Whitman’s X-tet, Spiral Visions (a Bobby Hutcherson tribute band), and the Chris Bates Good Vibes Trio.

Having spent many years deeply embedded in the vibrant jazz scenes of New York and Philadelphia, Behn Gillece has carved out a distinguished reputation as both a virtuosic vibraphonist and a prolific composer. Drawing inspiration from luminaries like Milt Jackson, Gary Burton and Bobby Hutcherson, Gillece has dedicated himself to pushing the boundaries of vibraphone artistry while leaving an indelible mark on the jazz landscape as a composer. Hailing from New Jersey, Gillece honed his craft through numerous performance opportunities in his home state and Philadelphia before making the leap to New York City in 2006. Since then, he has solidified his status as a sought-after sideman, as well as a formidable bandleader and recording artist.

His latest album, “Stick Together” (2024, Posi-Tone), is a testament to the powerof collaboration and synergy. Teaming up with esteemed musicians such as pianist Art Hirahara, bassist Boris Kozlov, and drummer Rudy Royston, Gillece crafts musical creations imbued with an undeniable sense of joy and ease.

From 2009 to 2013, Gillece co-led four transformative recordings on Posi-Tone with tenor saxophonist Ken Fowser, garnering international acclaim and extensive streaming and radio play. His albums as a leader— including “Mindset” (2015), “Dare To Be” (2016), “Walk Of Fire” (2017), “Parallel Universe” (2018), “Still Doing Our Thing” (2021), and “Between The Bars” (2023)— propelled him into the spotlight, earning him a 2018 Downbeat Rising Star award. Additionally, Gillece has lent his talents as a sideman to various acclaimed recordings, collaborating with artists such as Patrick Cornelius, Michael Dease, New Faces, Walt Weiskopf, Melody Gardot, Idle Hands, Out To Dinner, and Ensemble Novo.

Gillece’s performances have reached prestigious venues worldwide, including the Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Kimmel Center, Smalls Jazz Club, Mezzrow, Jazz Standard, Side Door, Smoke Jazz Club, Fat Cat, Yoshi’s, Chris’ Jazz Cafe, as well as renowned festivals such as North Sea, Montreux, Nice, Molde, Ghent, Montreal, and Toronto festivals.

In addition to his robust performance life, Gillece also has a burgeoning career as a music educator. Gillece is a member of the faculty at Rowan University, where he teaches vibraphone, jazz ensemble, music theory, and online courses. In addition to the various workshops he has been asked to give at colleges and universities across the world, he has prepared over 700 lessons for online instruction on vibesworkshop.com, which benefits percussion students internationally.

A recipient of numerous accolades, including the 2018 Downbeat Rising Star Vibraphonist award, Gillece holds a master’s degree from SUNY Purchase and is endorsed by Malletech instruments. Other honors include the 2009 Betty Carter Jazz Ahead residency, winning the Generations competition in 2009, and winning the 2008 Jazz Improvisation competition at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention.

For more information on Behn Gillece, to purchase albums, or to view his
upcoming performance schedule, visit his website at behngillece.com.

Juanjo Guillem (Catarroja, Valencia – Spain – 1965) has a broad and solid musical education obtained with the highest grades in the Superior Conservatories of Music in Valencia, Barcelona, Madrid, the Conservatoire National de Région de Strasbourg (France) and Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music (England). His career as a professional percussionist is threefold: as an orchestral musician, as a soloist and as an educator.

As a orchestral musician he has been a member of different orchestras such as the Gran Teatre of the Liceu in Barcelona, and Madrid’s Symphonic Orchestra. Currently, he is the Principal Percussionist and Timpani player in the Spanish National Orchestra. As a soloist, he specialises in 20th Century music, and has performed in Spain, Europe, Asia and America. Many composers – such as José Luis Turina, Jesús Torres, Mauricio Sotelo, Alicia Díaz, Pedro Guajardo, Thierry Pecou, Consuelo Díez, Julio Sanz, Rafael Reina, Miguel Ruizand Tomás Garrido- have designated their pieces to be premiered by him. He has also premiered numerous concerts for percussion and orchestra together with different formations such as the Spanish National Orchestra, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria’s Orchestra, Madrid’s Symphonic Orchestra, San Petersburg’s Chamber Orchestra, Pamplona’s ‘Pablo Sarasate’ Orchestra, Murcia’s Orchestra, Majorca’s Orchestra, the Cascais Chamber Orchestra (Portugal) and the ‘Andrés Segovia’ Orchestra. This interest in collaborating with other artists has led him to perform as percussionist of the Royal Dance Superior School, thus participating in different performances of modern and contemporary dance, flamenco, theatre, painting, video-creation and sculpture.

In 1994, along with Juanjo Rubio, he founded the Neopercusión Centre of Studies, a public centre focused on the teaching and diffusion of percussion. His educational activity has been concentrated in this centre for several years. He has been professor in Madrid and Zaragoza’s Superior Conservatories of Music, he is a regular teacher in several young orchestras, and has arranged – and participated in – summer courses on percussion. In addition, he has lectured in several study centres in Spain and Europe (Amsterdam, Lyon, Montpellier, Basil, Strasbourg, Perpignan’s School of Music, Manchester’s RNCM, London’s RNC and Royal Academy) America (Monterrey and Jalapa’s Superior Schools) and Asia (Beijing, Shenyang and Sanxy’s Schools of Music).

He is a member of the groups Neopercusión (modern music) and Urbethnic (ethnic and electronic music) with whom he has released four albums; Todas las caras de la percusión (1997), Música hispanoamericana para percusión (1998), URBETHNIC by Neopercusión (1998), and Credo in Cage (2003). Some of these albums include his own compositions which have also been performed in a wide range of forums, from classical music festivals such as Granada’s Festival, Soria’s Musical Autumn Festival, Galicia’s Festival, Santander’s Festival to contemporary music conferences such as Alicante’s Festival, Musiques D´aujordhui-Perpignan (France) San Sebastián’s Musical Fortnight and additional performing art events such as Madrid en Danza – Espacios Insólitos, Aula de Nuevas Músicas (Valencia) and in the Reina Sofía Museum.

Juanjo Guillem performs exclusively with Zildjian, Malletech, Novapercusio, and Remo instruments.

Frozen Earth Duo was formed by Brant Blackard and Connor Stevens while both were students at the Eastman School of Music. Brant and Connor are focused on performing contemporary music within the percussion duo repertoire, as well as presenting their own arrangements of classic repertoire. Frozen Earth Duo has performed at the Eastman School of Music, the George Eastman House, the 2015 Great Plains International Marimba Competition, the 2015 Valencia International Performance Academy & Festival in Spain, and the 2016 McCormick Marimba Festival.

Brant and Connor have been actively touring schools and universities with concerts, masterclasses and clinics. Their various clinics have been on performing chamber music, performing transcriptions and arrangements, and how performers can arrange music for themselves. Recently, Frozen Earth Duo has performed and presented at Florida State University, the University of South Alabama, the University of Central Arkansas, the University of South Carolina, Virginia Tech University, the Atlanta Percussion Symposium, and several other universities.

The duo also has performed regularly as part of the Eastman Broadband Ensemble. They have performed with Broadband at the soundSCAPE festival in Maccagno, Italy as well as the Valencia International Performance Academy & Festival. In 2016 they joined Broadband for a collaborative opera performance of music, dance, puppetry, and theater which premiered in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Brant Blackard and Connor Stevens are Malletech performing artists and endorsers.

Edward Choi joined the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra in 2004 and became Principal Percussionist in 2007.

Mr Choi has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Philharmonia  Orchestra of London, Toronto Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Orchestre  Philharmonique de Radio France, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Malaysian  Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony, and the Asia Philharmonic Orchestra. As  a chamber musician, he was a founding member of the Exit 9 Percussion  Group, winners of the Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition.

He is originally from Canada and studied music at the University of Toronto,  Northwestern University, and Rutgers University. Mr Choi holds a Doctorate in  Musical Arts as well as a degree in English Literature. As an educator, he has  held teaching positions at Sookmyung Women’s University, Kyunghee  University, Hanyang University and Seoul National University in Korea. Mr Choi  has taught clinics and masterclasses in Canada, the United States, Australia,  Japan, and China. He has also served on the Symphonic Committee of the  International Percussive Arts Society and has presented an orchestral clinic at  the PAS International Convention.

Mr Choi is a proud endorser of Malletech keyboard instruments/mallets and Zildjian cymbals.

Nathaniel Bartlett’s performances seamlessly meld his five-octave acoustic marimba with a powerful Linux-based computer, custom computer control interfaces, a variety of hardware audio electronics, and eight loudspeakers (plus subwoofer) arranged in a cube. With the audience positioned in the center of the loudspeaker cube, an elaborate, kinetic, three-dimensional sound environment can be projected into the audience space, totally immersing the listeners in the music. In Bartlett’s immersive sound environments, spatialization (the positioning and movement of sounds in physical space) becomes a central musical parameter, along side of pitch, rhythm/time, timbre, and so on.

The sound environments of Bartlett’s compositions are comprised of sounds culled from many sources and techniques, including digital audio manipulations of his live marimba, digital audio manipulations of recorded acoustic sounds stored on the computer, and synthetically engineered sounds. The intricate three-dimensional sound environments of his works are further enriched by the use of high-definition audio (24 bit/88.2 kHz, superior to CD-quality), which allows for a significant increase in sonic nuances.

In Bartlett’s performance rig, two computer monitors are used in place of a conventional music stand. The music notation, now free from the physical realm of paper and ink, is created and manipulated in real time, just as the computer-generated sounds are created and manipulated in real time.

Bartlett designed his performance rig for maximum mobility without compromising audio quality, and has performed all across the US in a wide variety of venues, such as art galleries and museums, concert halls, dance spaces, DIY/underground spaces, and many universities and colleges. In order to present his music in its original three-dimensional, high-definition form at every performance, Bartlett always tours with all his own electronic equipment and marimba.

Bartlett’s work as a marimbist also includes performances of acoustic and electro-integrated compositions written by other composers. This repertoire includes compositions from recent decades, including a growing number of compositions written specifically for him, as well as some centuries-old compositions.

Recordings of Nathaniel Bartlett’s original compositions and other projects — all on multi-channel, high-resolution media — can be found on Albany Records, and on his own label, Sound-Space Audio Lab.

Nathaniel Bartlett was born in 1978 in Madison, Wisconsin. In addition to studying privately with marimbist Leigh Howard Stevens, he studied at the Eastman School of Music (Rochester, NY), the Royal Academy of Music (London), and holds a doctoral degree in music composition from the University of Wisconsin– Madison. He is currently a postdoctoral associate at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery.

He performs on a Malletech Imperial Grand five-octave marimba.

Colleen Bernstein is an award-winning percussionist, arts educator, and creative collaborator recognized for her uniquely passionate performances, adventurous musical spirit, and impactful community engagement initiatives. She has performed contemporary solo, chamber, and orchestral music across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Additionally, she enjoys a diverse career as a concert presenter, producer, pianist, conductor, and teacher. Colleen strives to embody boldness and empathy through her work, and is dedicated to unifying and effecting positive change in communities of all ages and backgrounds.
Colleen has been featured in performances with GRAMMY-winning artists including Béla Fleck and members of the Silkroad Ensemble, and was the recipient of the Ludwig Albert Talent Award at the 2015 Universal Marimba Competition. She received 3rd place in the inaugural MalletLab International Online Competition, and was the 2nd place winner of the Black Swamp Solo Percussion Showcase in 2018. Colleen performed on the New York  Philharmonic’s Off the Grid chamber music concert series in 2017, and tours actively as Percussionist, Conductor, and Leader of Educational Programming with the ground-breaking American Wild Ensemble, a new music septet. Colleen is also a performer and teaching artist with Creative Leaps International, an interdisciplinary arts collective working with corporations, government agencies, and educational institutions to inspire creativity and leadership development. She has appeared as a guest artist at the Leigh Howard Stevens Summer Marimba Seminar, and twice at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention: as a member of the All-Star International Percussion Ensemble, and with the Eastman Percussion Ensemble.

Colleen is the Founder, Artistic Director, and Producer of Strength & Sensitivity, a mobile concert series promoting gender equality through immersive multi-media events celebrating passion, emotion, and understanding. The first Strength & Sensitivity performance featured seven world premieres, and was part of the United Nations HeForShe Arts Week, a weeklong, global festival honoring the UN Women’s solidarity movement for gender equality. In the 2018-2019 season, Strength & Sensitivity will launch a touring a production as well as collaborative ventures with established ambassador ensembles and artists.

As a recording artist, Colleen’s work can be heard on the debut American Wild Ensemble video album (ArtistShare label), as well as on multiple albums with the Eastman Wind Ensemble (Summit Records), on which she performs both percussion and piano. Colleen has worked as a session and post-production producer for Third Coast Percussion and the Eastman Percussion Ensemble.

Colleen is a champion of equitable education, and she has extensive experience teaching in traditional classroom and private studio environments, as well as designing culturally responsive educational programs for learners of all ages and backgrounds. She is currently the Director of Outreach for the Silkroad Global Musician Workshop, as well as the Lead Teacher in the El Sistema-inspired Michigan Artist Citizen Program and the Site Coordinator for the Crescendo Detroit Pathways Program. From 2014-2016, she curated a series of interactive concerts for multi-generational audiences celebrating local artists and contemporary music at the Strong National Museum of Play. Among these programs was Toy Suite, a project that generated ten solo and chamber works dedicated to toys in the National Toy Hall of Fame.

Over the past five years, Colleen has premiered nearly fifty solo, chamber, and orchestral pieces. She has personally commissioned over twenty works, varying from an electroacoustic solo to a trio for violin, marimba, and narrator, and a theatrical quartet for speaking percussionists, performed on “kitchen instruments.” Colleen is also leading the Richard Albagli Legacy Initiative in efforts to publish the comprehensive works of the nationally-renowned educator and celebrate his myriad accomplishments in the percussion field.

Colleen graduated with Highest Distinction from the Eastman School of Music in 2016 with Bachelor’s degrees in Applied Music and Music Education, a Certificate in Arts Leadership, and the prestigious Performer’s Certificate. She will receive Master’s degrees in Percussion and Chamber Music from the University of Michigan in 2019. Her primary teachers include Michael Burritt, Joseph Gramley, Jonathan Ovalle, Richard Albagli, and Mark Foster. Colleen is a Presser Undergraduate Scholar and a member of Pi Kappa Lambda (National Music Honor Society), the National Association for Music Education, and the Percussive Arts Society.

Career Highlights

• Founder & Artistic Director, Strength & Sensitivity Concerts
• Percussionist & Conductor, American Wild Ensemble
• Director of Community Engagement/Education, Silkroad Global Musician Worskhop
• Percussionist & Teaching Artist, Creative Leaps International
• 3rd Place Winner, 2018 MalletLab International Online Competition
• 2nd Place Winner, 2018 Black Swamp Percussion Solo Showcase
• Duo performances with Béla Fleck on tour, 2016
• Winner, Ludwig Albert Talent Prize, 2015 Universal Marimba Competition
• Inaugural International All-Star Percussion Ensemble member, 2015

Elliot Beck is the assistant principal timpanist/section percussionist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He can be heard playing with the orchestra across Israel and around the world during regular tours of Asia, Europe and the Americas. Before moving to Tel Aviv, he held percussion and timpani positions with the Grand Rapids and West Michigan Symphonies, respectively.

After studying the violin at an early age, Elliot soon realized the power of drumming in all varieties of music. He discovered the role of timpani in the orchestra in high school and fell in love immediately. Forgoing a degree in chemistry, he devoted himself full-time to a career in music. He went on to earn music degrees at the University of Michigan and Temple University with additional study at Carnegie Mellon University.

As a student he also received fellowships from the National Repertory Orchestra and the Aspen Music Festival and School. His primary teachers include Dr. Michael Udow, Alan Abel, Jeremy Branson and David Herbert.