Interested in scholarship opportunities?
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Our goal is to provide a unique summer event that celebrates creativity and diversity across all genres of percussion. Whether you are a percussionist wanting to learn more about composing, or a composer wanting to learn more about percussion, there is something for you at the Composing for Percussion Seminar!
Check out our Streaming Archives Membership.
Don’t miss your chance to work with this roster of artists and composers.
(Click on the image of each composer to learn more)
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composer
Charles Ives Scholarship & Morton Gould Young Composer Award Winner
Seminar Director, Furman University
Benedict College
Percussionist/Writer/Arts Advocate
Owner/Music Designer - Visaudio Designs
Team Islas
Program Director - RCC Indoor Percussion
Owner - C. Alan Publications
The Melodic Timpani Project
Composer/Orchestrator/Arranger for Film & TV
The Cadets/Dartmouth High School
Director/Designer - Petal HS, Creative Designer - Pacific Crest
Brooklyn Steppers/South Carolina State University
Square Peg Round Hole/FourTen Media
Ritual, Improvisation, Global Rhythms, & Music-Technology
world-class faculty & guest composers
Weekly Masterclasses, 1-hour Private Lessons, and Roundtable Discussions with our world-class faculty, along with a weekend matinee hangout with different guest composers each week.
A Seminar for All
Percussionists and Composers of all experience levels and backgrounds are welcome.
“Premium” participants are eligible to have completed works read and recorded by the Furman University Percussion Ensemble.
Multiple Participation Options
Flexible participation packages based on your schedule and budget, ranging from a “Premium” tier for maximum in-person interaction to a low-cost 1-year membership to our streaming archives.
A more relaxed schedule than a typical summer intensive to better fit into your daily life, starting at four 1-hour sessions per week. All sessions will be recorded and immediately available for streaming to accommodate any time zone.
Check out our Streaming Archives Membership.
At no cost, invitations to both will be sent out to all seminar participants after registration.
*Schedule subject to change. All times Eastern Standard Time (EST)
FRIDAY, 7/9
8pm: Keynote Presentation – An Interview with John Luther Adams
SATURDAY, 7/10
5pm: Guest AMA with Evan Chapman
SUNDAY, 7/11
2pm: Matinee Hangout with Hal Rosenfeld
Composing & Percussion in the World of TV & Film
4pm: Matinee Hangout with Tim Greene
Drumming is Drumming
MONDAY, 7/12
5pm: Masterclass – Alexis Lamb
Challenging Our Perceptions of Creativity
TUESDAY, 7/13
5pm: Masterclass – Sean Vega
Plan Less, Design More: Getting the Most Out of Your Creativity
WEDNESDAY, 7/14
5pm: Concert Roundtable
Can you hit this? Can you bow that? Orchestrating for Percussion
THURSDAY, 7/15
5pm: Marching Roundtable
The Creative Workflow in the Marching Arts and Beyond
SUNDAY, 7/18
2pm: Matinee Hangout with Diana Loomer
The Melodic Timpani Project: Composing for the 21st Century Timpanist
4pm: Matinee Hangout with Tom & Darcie Aungst
Preparing for Indoor Percussion
MONDAY, 7/19
5pm: Masterclass – Ivan Trevino
From Seed to Song
TUESDAY, 7/20
5pm: Masterclass – Doug Bush & Patricia Islas
Arranging for Drumline: The Art of Translation
WEDNESDAY, 7/21
5pm: Concert Roundtable
The Work: Forging a Path in a Composition Career
THURSDAY, 7/22
5pm: Marching Roundtable
The Art of Education: Writing for Student Musicians
SUNDAY, 7/25
2pm: Matinee Hangout with Nathan Daughtrey
Diversifying Your Compositional Output & Making It Look Good
4pm: Matinee Hangout with Tony Lymon
This Ain’t A Scene; It’s an Arms Race. Effective Use of Multimedia in the Marching Arts
MONDAY, 7/26
5pm: Masterclass – Joe Moore
Composing: Getting Started
TUESDAY, 7/27
5pm: Masterclass – Bryan Harmsen
Creating Crystal Clear Compositions
WEDNESDAY, 7/28
5pm: Concert Roundtable
Percussion Repertoire: Where Are We Now? Where Are We Headed?
THURSDAY, 7/29
5pm: Marching Roundtable
The Tools of the Trade: Notation, Technology, and the Logistics of Creativity
SATURDAY, 7/31
4pm: Final Concert – Turning Jewels Into Water
You can still register for 1-year access to the full archive!
SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE
We know that this is a unique time. In keeping with our founding spirit of creativity and inclusivity, we want to ensure that the Composing for Percussion Seminar is open to all who are interested. If you are eager to participate but are experiencing financial hardship, a limited number of payment plans or other accommodations are available on a case-by-case basis. Contact omar.carmenates@furman.edu to inquire.
For John Luther Adams, music is a lifelong search for home—an invitation to slow down, pay attention, and remember our place within the larger community of life on earth.
Living for almost 40 years in northern Alaska, JLA discovered a unique musical world grounded in space, stillness, and elemental forces. In the 1970’s and into the ’80s, he worked full time as environmental activist. But the time came when he felt compelled to dedicate himself entirely to music. He made this choice with the belief that, ultimately, music can do more than politics to change the world. Since that time, he has become one of the most widely admired composers in the world, receiving the Pulitzer Prize, a Grammy Award, and many other honors.
In works such as Become Ocean, In the White Silence, and Canticles of the Holy Wind, Adams brings the sense of wonder that we feel outdoors into the concert hall. And in outdoor works such as Inuksuit and Sila: The Breath of the World, he employs music as a way to reclaim our connections with place, wherever we may be.
A deep concern for the state of the earth and the future of humanity drives Adams to continue composing.
As he puts it: “If we can imagine a culture and a society in which we each feel more deeply responsible for our own place in the world, then we just may be able to bring that culture and that society into being. This will largely be the work of people who will be here on this earth when I am gone. I place my faith in them.”
Since leaving Alaska, JLA and his wife Cynthia have made their home in the deserts of Mexico, Chile, and the southwestern United States.
Alexis C. Lamb (b. 1993) is a composer, percussionist, and educator who is interested in fostering communities of mindful music-making, particularly through the medium of storytelling. Her recent musical endeavors incorporate her love of research and oral histories into sonic commentaries that often enable the performers to offer their own improvisations and responses. Lamb’s music has been regarded as having “sparkling optimism throughout,” and as “a pleasure in its own right” (I Care If You Listen).
As a composer, Lamb has collaborated with numerous individuals and ensembles, including the Albany (NY) Symphony’s Dogs of Desire, Camilla Tassi, Contemporaneous, Emily Roller, the Yale Philharmonia, Evan Chapman, the University of Nebraska Percussion Ensemble, the Arizona State University Symphony Orchestra, and the Northern Illinois University World Steelband. Her music has been performed in North America, South America, Europe, and Africa.
As a percussionist, Lamb is working on a solo project called The Concord of Discord, which combines spoken word with percussion and electronics. This project seeks to explore how everyday objects, ideas, and activities can lead us into considering “the bigger pictures” of our lives — our families, identities, relationships, priorities, values, and philosophies. Lamb was also a performer from 2013-2020 with Projeto Arcomusical, the berimbau ensemble associated with Arcomusical. Her performance with the berimbau has been hailed as “riveting visually as well as sonically” (Centerline).
As an educator, Lamb’s work runs the gamut from private lessons to clinics and large classes. She is a passionate advocate for students with disabilities and encourages creativity at every age and ability level. Her work in New Haven included developing the Creative Music-Making program for the Yale Music in Schools Initiative as well as serving as a Teaching Fellow for the Department of Music at Yale University and Teaching Assistant in the Yale School of Music. Prior to returning to graduate school, Lamb was the 6-12th grade band director for Meridian CUSD 223 in Stillman Valley, Illinois. She also served as interim percussion instructor for the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra in spring 2016 and created a week-long percussion camp at NIU for 4-12th grade students of varying abilities that has now grown into a faculty-led camp through the NIU Percussion and Steel Pan Studios.
Lamb is the recipient of a 2021 Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters as well as a 2018 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award. She will be starting her Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Michigan in fall 2021. Lamb earned a Master of Music in Composition at the Yale School of Music and two Bachelor of Music degrees in Music Education and Percussion Performance from Northern Illinois University. Her compositions can be found on Innova Recordings, National Sawdust Tracks, and Evan Chapman’s self-published record, Caustics. When not working on music, she can be found playing board games at an overly competitive level, teaching her two cats new tricks, and fishing in every possible body of water.
Omar Carmenates is currently the Associate Professor of Percussion at Furman University in Greenville, SC where he oversees all aspects of the percussion program including classical, jazz, and world percussion studies. He holds a Doctor of Music degree from Florida State University, a Master of Music Degree in Percussion Performance from the University of North Texas, and a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of Central Florida. Omar is also a versatile musician and his debut solo recording, entitled The Gaia Theory, was released through Rattle Records in 2013. He can also be heard on the Cantaloupe Records release of John Luther Adams’ concert-length Inuksuit for 9-99 outdoor percussionists, a work that he both co-commissioned and directed in its United States premiere. He is also the director, producer, and arranger of “The John Psathas Percussion Project”, a collaboration aimed at recording and performing percussion ensemble arrangements of the works of New Zealand’s most prominent composer, John Psathas. The recordings and scores from this project are published through PARMA Records and Promethean Publications.
Omar is a proud endorser/artist for Grover Pro Percussion, Vic Firth, Inc. Remo Drumheads, Zildjian Cymbals, and Pearl Corporation/Adams Musical Instruments.
Joe W. Moore III has recently been appointed Assistant Professor of Music – Percussion at the University of Louisiana Monroe. He has also served on music faculties at Benedict College, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and the University of Texas at Brownsville. Moore earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Central Florida, a Master of Music degree from the University of South Carolina, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree with a minor in composition from Louisiana State University. His primary percussion teachers include Jeff Moore, Kirk Gay, ScoO Herring, Jim Hall, BreO Dietz and Troy Davis. His composition teachers include Jay Batzner, BreO Dietz, and Dinos Constantinides.
Active as a soloist and chamber musician, Moore performs as a member of the Omojo Percussion Duo, the Ninkasi Percussion Group, 2×2 Percussion, and Dead Resonance. His performances have included appearances at the Sugarmill Music Festival, the UTRGV Marimba Festival, the National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy, and the 2018 Percussive Arts Society International Convention.
As a composer, Moore’s works have been performed and heard across the United States at state music educator conferences, the National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy, and the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. C. Alan Publications, Alea Publishing and Recording, Percussion Music Europe, and Innovative Percussion Publications publish Dr. Moore’s music. He also self-publishes many of his own manuscripts, which can be found at www.joewmooreiii.net.
Dr. Moore’s sponsors include Pearl Drums/Adams Musical Instruments, REMO Drumheads, SABIAN Cymbals, Black Swamp Percussion, and Vic Firth sticks and mallets.
Ivan Trevino (b.1983) is a Mexican-American composer, percussionist, writer and arts advocate. He has shared his music with audiences around the world, from Asia to South America to Madison Square Garden in New York City.
As a composer and songwriter, Ivan’s music has been performed on five continents in over 25 countries. He is a multi-award winning recipient of the Percussive Arts Society’s International Composition Contest and has over 70 compositions and songs to his name. Most recently, he was the featured composer on American Public Media’s Performance Today.
Ivan is also well-known for his work as a drummer and songwriter with Break of Reality, an international touring cello rock quartet. Break of Reality has released four studio albums and has been featured on PBS, Huffington Post, Yahoo Music and is on regular rotation on National Public Radio.
An active educator, Ivan is co-director of the Eastman Percussion Festival, an annual summer festival hosted by Eastman School fo Music. He has also designed and taught courses at Eastman, and was previously a faculty member at Baylor University’s School of Music. He is currently an artist and clinician for Zildjian Cymbals, Evans Drumheads, Pearl / Adams, Meinl, Black Swamp, and Beetle Percussion.
In 2017, Ivan co-founded The Big Trouble alongside composer and percussionist, Drew Worden. The percussion / songwriting collective received a Boston Foundation Artist Grant in 2017 to record and produce their debut album. In 2018, the ensemble was selected to perform a showcase concert at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention.
Ivan’s work spans various media including storytelling, poetry, and film scoring. Space Junk, his children’s story set to music, will be released as an illustrated book later this year. His collection of online writings are regularly circulated throughout the arts community, including “My Pretend Music School”, a blog post that sparked debate about music school curriculum and has become required reading for collegiate courses around the U.S.
Ivan currently lives in Austin, TX with his wife, Amanda, and their children, Henry and Oscar.
Bryan is the owner of Visaudio Designs, a company specializing in design for the pageantry arts. He is currently the lead music composer and sound designer for Monarch Independent and The Mandarins Drum Corps, a role he held with The Colts Drum and Bugle Corps for the 2017 through 2019 seasons. He is also the Chief Creative Officer of Virtual Arts, where he holds the roles of lead music composer and program coordinator for various projects—most notably the Virtual Drum & Bugle Corps. Bryan has designed for a number of ensembles in the United States, East Asia, and Europe, and his arrangements and compositions have helped ensembles earn numerous gold medals in their local circuits as well as 13 WGI medals and many more finalists. Some of Bryan’s more notable current and past indoor drumline clients are Monarch Independent, Burleson Centennial HS, Clear Brook HS, and ED White HS. He was a marching member of Spirit of Atlanta, Southwind, and The Cavaliers.
Bryan is also the voice and instructor behind Virtual Drumline Demystified, a tutorial series for the Virtual Drumline sound library from Tapspace Publications. While not working on music, he also dabbles in graphic design, photography, enjoys spending time outdoors, and has an affinity for all things on the leading edge of technology. He proudly endorses Pearl/Adams musical instruments, Innovative Percussion, and Remo Drumheads, and currently resides in Carrollton, Georgia with his wife Emily and their pack of dogs and cats.
Team Islas is the combined musical power of the University of North Texas graduates Patricia Islas and Doug Bush. Together they are international clinicians, adjudicators, educators, performers, and composers within the percussion community. As educators, they have experience teaching beginning percussionists through drum corps and college students. As performers, they have worked with artists such as Gregg Bissonette and Imogen Heap and performed with Grammy-nominated artists Poovalur Sriji, Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, and Ignacio Berroa. As composers, they both have written many popular percussion solos and ensembles. Doug Bush has written two bestselling snare drum method books; Super Hands and Master Hands while Patricia Islas authored the best-selling mallet book Momentum. Team Islasis often commissioned for original works, including pieces performed for the TMEA Invited Percussion Ensemble, PASIC Invited Percussion Ensemble (High School), and Midwest Invited Percussion Ensemble concerts. Together Patricia and Doug have written, arranged, and taught for numerous award-winning high school band programs including champions of the HEB Drumline Contest, Plano Drumline Contest, North Texas Drumline Contest, Lewisville Drumline Contest, Lone Star Drumline Contest, PASIC Drumline Contest, and medalist for Texas State and BOA marching bands. They have also served as percussion arrangers for the Guardians, Southwind, and Blue Knights drum and bugle corps. Team Islas proudly endorses Mapex/Majestic Percussion, Promark Sticks and Mallets, Remo Drum Heads, SABIAN Cymbals, Beetle Percussion, and Lot Riot Apparel.
For the last 22 years, Sean Vega has been an active educator, designer, and clinician for the marching arts, as well the Director of Institutional Sales for Conn-Selmer.
Sean is the Founder, Program Director and Designer for theWGI Independent World Class Champion RCC Indoor Percussion. Since RCC’s inaugural visit to the WGI World Championships in 2002, the ensemble has placed in the top two 13 of the last 18 years and has won the Gold Medal six times. RCC is also a 13-time SCPA World Class Champion.
Sean also served as a member of the prestigious percussion staff of the Concord Blue Devils from 1998 to 2007. Blue Devils is also where he served as a member of the tenor line from 1994 to 1997. In those combined years, Sean helped the corps win six DCI Championships, five High Percussion Awards and the Multi-Tenor Individual Title in 1995.
As an advocate for music education, Sean has held advisory positions as a board member of the Southern California Percussion Alliance, a steering committee member of Winter Guard International, and as an active clinician for marching arts organizations around the world.
Sean currently resides in Monrovia, CA with his wife and 2 children, and is a proud endorser of Conn-Selmer, Ludwig, Musser, Promark, Evansand Zildjian.
Percussionist, composer, & educator Nathan Daughtrey (b. 1975) is a musical chameleon who uses his wide-ranging talents to adapt comfortably to a variety of environments. As a performing artist and clinician for Yamaha percussion, Vic Firth sticks & mallets, Zildjian cymbals, and Black Swamp accessories, he has performed and given masterclasses and clinics throughout the United States and across three continents. Most recently, Nathan performed as a concerto soloist with the Korean Navy Band with composer David Gillingham conducting as part of the Jeju International Wind Ensemble Festival. Nathan has recorded two solo marimba albums to date – “Spiral Passages” and “The Yuletide Marimba” – and has appeared on several other albums, including a recent collaboration with euphoniumist Brian Meixner (Praxis) and a recording of Emma Lou Diemer’s “Concerto in One Movement for Marimba & Orchestra” with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Pacific Ridge).
With publications for percussion ensemble, concert band, orchestra, chamber ensembles, and soloists as well as an ever-growing number of commissions, Nathan balances his performing with composing, and to great acclaim. He is the only composer in the history of the Percussive Arts Society International Composition Contest to procure both 2nd and 3rd place in the same year with his percussion ensemble works “Limerick Daydreams” and “Adaptation,” respectively. Nathan’s compositions appear regularly on performances at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the Bands of America National Music Festival, and in concert halls and other performance venues around the world. His works have also been recorded on several albums by respected performers, including the TCU Percussion Orchestra, the University of North Texas Wind Symphony, the Phonix Reflexion Percussion Ensemble (Tokyo), the FSU Percussion Ensemble, the Mushashino Academia Wind Symphony (Tokyo), and the RoseWind Duo. All of his compositions and arrangements are published by C. Alan Publications.
As an educator, Nathan served as a Visiting Lecturer of Percussion for three years at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he taught applied percussion and conducted the Percussion Ensemble. He also served as a sabbatical replacement at the University of Oklahoma, where he taught undergraduate and graduate percussion students and conducted the world-renowned OU Percussion Orchestra. Dr. Daughtrey most recently completed a six-year stint as Visiting Lecturer of Percussion and Music Composition at High Point University (NC), where he taught applied lessons, directed the percussion ensemble and worked in collaboration with the School of Communication, Department of Dance, and Department of Theatre. Nathan is currently the Director of Operations for C. Alan Publications.
When not performing or composing, Dr. Daughtrey can be found running the trails and greenways in his hometown of Greensboro, NC, where he is outnumbered three-to-one by his wife Katie, daughter Penelope, and dog Gertrude.
Dr. Diana Loomer is an active percussionist and music educator, currently teaching and performing in the Asheville, NC area. In addition to her private lesson studio, she is the director of the “Steely Pan Steel Band” at Appalachian State University and a percussion instructor at ASU and Western Carolina University. She has developed a passion for “melodic timpani” playing, and is currently working to expand both the potential of the instrument, as well as the repertoire for this new field.
Diana has performing experience in many different areas of percussion from all over the world. In addition to her orchestral background, she also has an extensive background in world percussion, including steel pan, tabla, Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, and West African percussion. She is a current member of Zabumba Asheville Samba, and she regularly teaches and performs with her steel pan duo, Blue Iron Percussion.
Hal Rosenfeld is a percussionist, composer, arranger, and orchestrator whose work can be heard in over 100 films, television shows, and video games.
Recently, he was a part of the Emmy Award-winning music team for FX’s “Fosse/Verdon,” working alongside “Hamilton’s” Alex Lacamoire as music producer on the series’ songs and score. He also played drums on the Grammy-winning soundtrack and score for the hit film, “The Greatest Showman”. Hal has toured and performed with Kanye West’s “Sunday Service,” Watsky, Vidya Vox, and is the house-drummer for the Daytime Emmy Awards.
Born in South Florida, Rosenfeld got his start working for noted composer-arranger Gordon Goodwin, as well as under the mentorship of legendary orchestrator Ladd McIntosh, and percussionist Bernie Dresel. He received his degree in Media Composition from CSU Northridge, after studying orchestral and jazz percussion at Florida State University, and has gone on to apply his talents to projects for such luminaries as Elton John, Jonas Brothers, Terence Blanchard, Joe Trapanese, Hans Zimmer, Ringo Starr, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Academy Award-winner Justin Hurwitz.
As both a drummer and percussionist, Hal has been featured on projects including The Greatest Showman, HBO’s “Perry Mason,” “Fortnite,” “Forky Asks a Question,” “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” “Zombieland: Double Tap,” and the latest Jonas Brothers single “X”.
As a composer, arranger, or orchestrator, he has contributed to Disney’s “Mulan,” “In the Heights” (2021 film), “Dollface,” “Robin Hood,” “Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G.,” “Quantico,” “Need for Speed Payback,” Apple’s “iOS Photos app,” and China’s highest grossing film of all-time “Wolf Warrior 2”.
Rosenfeld arranged music for two 100+ dancer musical dance sequences in Showtime’s “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels,” which have earned praise from sources such as TV Guide and A.V. Club, as being series highlights.
Hal currently lives in Los Angeles, where he once made prolonged eye contact with Emma Watson at a party.
TOM AUNGST is the Director of Percussion at Dartmouth Public Schools in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. His job includes teaching percussion students at all levels of the program, from the beginners starting in 5th grade, to the middle and high school students. Mr. Aungst has been in the Dartmouth school system for the past 28 years. Under Tom’s direction, Dartmouth has participated in the WGI indoor percussion activity since 1998, capturing five World Class Percussion Championships (1998, 1999, 2008, 2009, 2014) and has consistently placed in the top three.
Mr. Aungst has also been involved in the drum corps activity for over 40 years. Tom returned to The Cadets Drum & Bugle Corps as the Caption Head and Arranger for the 2017 season. He was formerly the Caption Head for Carolina Crown in 2015 and 2016. Mr. Aungst got his start in drum corps in the late 70’s by marching with the Reading Buccaneer’s all-age corps, winning two DCA World Championships in 1979 and 1980. In 1981 Tom became involved with The Cadets, first as a member from 1981-1984, a snare tech from 1985-1988, then becoming the Percussion Arranger and Caption Head from 1989 through 2008.
Darcie toured for 11 years with the Marauders Drum and Bugle Corps as a member, instructor, choreographer, and designer. She has choreographed several musicals on both the West and East Coasts. Her educational background includes Health Education, Dance, and Educational Leadership; she also studied classical piano for 11 years in her home state of Washington.
During her day job, Darcie is the Principal of two separate urban elementary schools in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where she lives with her son Noah who marches in the Dartmouth High School Percussion Ensemble. Her eldest son, Alan, marched with the Spartans, Carolina Crown, for three years with the Blue Devils, and four years with RCC Indoor Percussion.
Tony is the former Assistant Director of Bands at Petal High School in Petal, Mississippi and currently is the co-music arranger/show designer for the Petal High School marching band. Tony is the director show designer for the Petal Indoor Percussion Theatre, a national WGI Percussion Scholastic World Finalist. He has twice been awarded the Outstanding Junior High Director of the Southeast Mississippi Band Directors Association and the 2008 Mississippi Bandmasters Association AE McClain Outstanding Young Band Director Award. Tony was also the Founder and Director of Eminence Indoor Percussion Ensemble (2003-2005), a regional and national WGI Open Class finalist and championship ensemble.
Tony holds a Bachelors degree in Music Education from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Certification in 3D Architectural Rendering from The 3D Training Institute of New York. He was a member and principal percussionist in the world renowned Southern Miss Wind Ensemble and Southern Miss Symphony Orchestra. While at Southern Miss, Tony was the percussion arranger for the Pride of Mississippi Marching Band and USM indoor percussion ensemble. Tony was also a member of the World Champion Star of Indiana Drum and Bugle Corps (Bloomington, IN) from 1991-1993. In his three years of DCI experience, he won the DCI-Midwest Solo Timpani Champion and the 1994 Percussive Arts Society International Solo Timpani Award. Tony’s original marimba composition “Of Thoughts and Thinking” has become a standard in percussion literature. The piece was most recently recorded by German percussion artist Cornelia Monkse on the CD “Marimba 2” and was featured in the French documentary film “Le Ciel.”
After college, Tony pursued a professional performance career for eight years with the pop/rock band King Konga . While with King Konga, Tony toured the world selling out venues nationwide. The group did a post September 11th USO tour for the U.S. Military in Hawaii and South East Asia. The four-piece band gained critical acclaim reaching #81 on the AC Hot 100 Pop Charts with “Something Good.” With a rare accomplishment by an independent band, King Konga captured the eyes and ears of many major record labels and the band went on to perform at Woodstock ’99. Tony has also performed with The Mississippi Symphony, Mobile Opera, Hattiesburg Civic Light Opera and The Meistersingers Orchestral/Choral Ensemble.
Tony recently wrapped up a season as the sound designer for The Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps in 2018 and currently serves as Creative Designer for Pacific Crest Drum and Bugle Corps. He is the owner of Eidetic Creative, a multimedia creative designs solution business. He currently resides in Petal, Mississippi with his wife Emily and 13-year-old daughter Colette.
Tim Greene Sr. is currently in his sixth year as the Assistant Band Director/Percussion Director for Cypress Ranch High School out of Cypress Texas, in West Houston. During his tenure at Cypress Ranch High School the percussion section and band have become highly competitive in both indoor and outdoor arenas. Most notable awards include; Area Finalist in the UIL State Marching band contest 2018, Earning Sweepstakes with 1st division ratings across the board for Marching and Concert ensembles 2017-2018, Best percussion at multiple marching band contest, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 earning first place in Scholastic A division TCGC Championships indoor percussion contest in 2015.
Mr. Greene served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Auburn University in Auburn Alabama from 2013 – 2015, where he studied under Dr. Doug Rosener while teaching and writing music for the Auburn University Marching Bands Percussion Section.
Mr. Greene has served as a general Music Teacher for Orangeburg Consolidated School District Three, as well as the Marching Percussion Director for South Carolina State University from 2007 – 2013.
Since aging out of the co-world champion Cadets in 2000, Mr. Greene has taught at several notable programs across the country including; Percussion Caption Head for Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corp 2013-2014, Blue Stars as Battery Coordinator in 2012, Boston Crusaders Jr. Drum and Bugle Corp 2001, 2006, King Phillip Regional High-School 2001, Bushwackers Senior Drum and Bugle Corp 2004, 2007, Brooklyn Steppers and Black Fire Percussion 2002 – 2007. During his tenure with the Brooklyn Steppers Mr. Greene also lead the Drumline for the New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets (now Brooklyn Nets) and Hot 97 radio station.
Mr. Greene currently holds a Masters in Music Education from Auburn University, and a Bachelors of Science in Music Education from South Carolina State University, graduating Cum-Laudi. Prior to completing the undergraduate degree Mr. Greene also studied percussion under Michael Lipsey at Queens College Aaron Copeland School of music in Long Island City NY, as well as Robert Romeo at Jersey City University in Jersey City NJ.
Mr. Greene has conducted percussion clinics and workshops in the Atlanta-Metro, New York, Alabama, Texas South East areas as an education artist for Remo, Zildjian, and Vic Firth. Mr. Greene has adjudicated the solo and ensemble marching categories at PASIC, he has also adjudicated some indoor contest and other local circuits in the Alabama, and Georgia area.
Mr. Greene currently resides in Cypress Texas with his wife Krystal, their four children Kayden age 5, four year old twins; Timothy Jr. and Kaylee, 8 month old Kaycee and their dog Patches, a very friendly miniature Dachshund.
Mr. Greene is the founder and owner of TAG percussion, a web based video lesson platform. He is also the author and creator of the children’s books series; The Daddy Duty Book Series. A book series that is dedicated to providing an inside look into the role of the active parenting dad. Mr. Greene is a part of the founding body of the Southern Percussion Ensemble an Indoor competition ensemble that features HBCU instrumentation and influences.
Mr. Greene is a percussion clinician, arranger and technician in high demand, as well percussion adjudicator. He is currently an education artist for Vic Firth, Zildjian, Remo and an active PAS member and clinician.
Evan Chapman, lauded for his “forward-thinking rhythms” by Modern Drummer Magazine, is a percussionist, composer and filmmaker who has built a prolific and unique career by seamlessly blending multimedia and contemporary music.
Chapman is a founding member of Philadelphia-based contemporary-classical percussion trio/rock band Square Peg Round Hole, whose compositions have been dubbed a “creative adventure” by Bob Boilen (NPR) and have received further acclaim from Paste Magazine, Mental Floss and Boing Boing, among others. Square Peg Round Hole released their third full-length LP, ‘Branches’, in November 2019, which The New Yorker hailed “has pushed the boundaries of sound and texture”.
In 2015, Evan embarked on an ambitious commissioning project seeking to expand the contemporary repertoire available to drum set soloists by developing groundbreaking multimedia works from diverse composers. 5 years later, these works have made their way onto a full-length album, Caustics, released in April 2020. The featured pieces were written by some of the most thrilling current composers of contemporary-classical music including Ian Chang (of Son Lux), Molly Joyce, Robert Honstein, Alexis Lamb, Alicia Walter, Anna Meadors, Ted Babcock, and Evan himself.
The Intersection of Ritual, Improvisation, Global Rhythms and Music-Technology
This new project with composer/ percussionist/turntablist Val Jeanty arose from her participation in a jam session at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, NY while Momin was artist-in-residence there in September of 2017. Their collaboration, rooted in improvisation shaped by ritual, evokes the esoteric realms of the creative subconscious. Drawing from the voodoo religion, Val recreates the ancient rhythm and pulse of Haiti through digital beats, while Momin, whose own musical background is rooted Indian, North African and Middle-eastern traditions, has developed an original blend of electro-acoustic beats, drawing together the improvisational traditions in Jazz and South Indian classical music. Together they explore the capabilities of new technologies to create a seamless blend of multiple electronic and acoustic instruments.
VAL JEANTY is a Haitian electronic music composer/percussionist/turntablist who evokes the musical esoteric realms of the creative subconscious self-defined as “Afro-Electronica.” She incorporates her African Haitian musical traditions into the present and beyond, combining acoustics with electronics and the archaic with the post-modern. She has worked with a diverse array of artists, including Geri Allen, Anthony Braxton and Harriet Tubman Double trio. She is the recipient of the Van Lier Grant, Meet the Composer Grant, and her project “ON” was supported in part by the New York State Music Fund. Her “Afro-Electronica” installations have been showcased in New York City at the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Village Vanguard, and internationally at Saalfelden Music Festival in Austria, Stanser Musiktage in Switzerland, Jazz à la Villette in France, and the Biennale Di Venezia Museum in Italy.
Former Scott Pemberton drummer, Nick Werth, offers up an inspiring display of creativity with his solo project, GALAXE. While simultaneously juggling the producer/MC roles, live beats and positive mantras unite to form a unique blend of conscious Hip Hop and Electronica. To make matters more interesting, Nick delivers the GALAXE sound via Xylosynth: a futuristic beat machine with limitless possibilities.
The first full-length GALAXE album, “ILL BEVANS,” was released in October of 2013. With the help of Portland-based engineer/producer Paul Laxer, Nick recorded drums, vibes, bass synth, piano, turntable, and vocals, creating a truly organic Hip Hop record. A year later, GALAXE celebrates it’s inaugural anniversary with a performance at the Joshua Tree Music Festival.
Currently, Nick is collaborating with a number of artists, including SPANKALICIOUS (ThazDope Records) and percussionist extraordinaire, Nate Werth (Grammy-winning Snarky Puppy).
galaxe.bandcamp.com
From genre-crossing projects with jazz legends Michael Brecker and Joshua Redman, to an innovative e-book scoring collaboration with Salman Rushdie, from an unforgettable recording session with the Grand Mufti in Paris’s Grand Mosque, to a Billboard classical-chart-topping album with System of a Down front-man Serj Tankian, John’s musical journey weaves through myriad genres, and has moved concert audiences in more than 50 countries on all 7 continents (yes, even Antarctica).
Early career collaborations included working with such luminaries as Sir Mark Elder, Kristjan Jarvi, the Takacs Quartet, Lara St. John, the Netherlands Blazers Ensemble, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Edo de Wart, Joanna MacGregor, Pedro Carneiro, the Halle Orchestra, The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Emilia Romagna “Arturo Toscanini”, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and many more. Then followed a period of intense creative exploration in the worlds of electronica and jazz, and a series of mega-projects (such as scoring much of the opening ceremony of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games). All of which has led to an explosion of first-hand collaborations with artists from dozens of musical traditions spanning Asia, Europe, North and South America, Africa, and Australasia.
John is now developing projects that integrate the many strands of this creative journey. Much of his recent work has social and historical commentary at its core. The film White Lies (original film score) depicts a headon clash of beliefs and the nature of identity in early NZ European settler society. Between Zero and One is inspired by ancient and modern rhythms, and brings musicians from around the world into the concert space via interactive projection, transforming and challenging the traditional experience of fixed-location, temporallycontained performance. 100 Years (in collaboration with Serj Tankian) is an unflinching exploration and remembrance of the Armenian Genocide begun in 1915. Most recently, the epic and experimental No Man’s Land project overtly challenges the accepted handling of WWI commemoration. No Man’s Land involved filming and integrating 150 musicians from more than 25 different countries, including Oum El Ghait (Morocco), Meeta Pandit (India), Bijan Chemirani (Iran/France), Marta Sebestyen (Hungary), Vagelis Karipis (Greece), Refugees of Rap (Syria), and Derya Turkan and Saddredin Ozcimi (Turkey).
The works of this Greek New Zealand composer now emerge from a dazzling 21st-century backdrop, where dynamic collaboration with creative masters from all corners of the physical and artistic globe result in outcomes that are visionary, moving, and inspired. John’s music has achieved a level of international success unprecedented in New Zealand history, and he is also now considered one of the three most important living composers of the Greek Diaspora.
Composer Gemma Peacocke grew up in Hamilton, New Zealand, and she moved to New York in 2014. She writes a broad range of music including art-pop chamber music, electroacoustic pieces, and orchestral works. She has a particular love of interdisciplinary work and often collaborates with artists, writers, and theatre directors and designers.
Gemma’s first album, Waves & Lines, sets poems by Afghan women collected and translated by Pulitzer Prize-winner Eliza Griswold in her book I Am the Beggar of the World: Landays from contemporary Afghanistan. Waves & Lines was released on New Amsterdam in 2019 and has been performed as an evening-length multimedia song cycle at the Kennedy Center, Roulette Intermedium and National Sawdust in New York, and Australia’s Melbourne Recital Centre.
Gemma’s music has been performed and commissioned by Third Coast Percussion, PUBLIQuartet, Rubiks Collective, ~Nois saxophone quartet, the Furies, cellist Nick Photinos, and Alarm Will Sound. In January-February 2020, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra premiered All on Fire, a piece commissioned by the orchestra in honour of the 200th anniversary of the birth of suffragist Susan B Anthony.
Gemma is a founding member of the Kinds of Kings composer collective. Described by The New Yorker as “distinguished young creators who work in diverse styles,” the collective focuses on amplifying and advocating for under-heard voices and producing immersive and transporting concerts. The collective is an Artist-in-Residence with New York’s National Sawdust for the 2019-2020 season and has been commissioned by Eighth Blackbird and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra to write a concerto to be premiered in 2021.
Gemma is a joint Ph.D. candidate in Music and Humanistic Studies at Princeton University. She usually lives in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, with her husband George and their highly-strung adopted standard poodle, Mila. She also spends as much time as possible in New Zealand.
Brian Nozny (b. 1977) leads a diversified career as a percussionist, composer, and educator spanning a wide array of musical styles, including classical, jazz, world, and popular genres. As a percussionist, he has performed in an orchestral capacity with many orchestras throughout the country and currently serves as Principal Timpanist with Sinfonia Gulf Coast (Destin, FL). His excursions into chamber music have included collaborations with groups such as the Bravura Percussion Trio, the Copper Street Brass Quintet, the nief-norf project, the Brickhouse Jazz Combo, and currently as a member of JP3 (The John Psathas Percussion Project) and the BRN Duo with his wife, flutist Rachel Nozny.
As a composer, his original works and arrangements are regularly performed throughout the world. Notable ensembles and performers that have premiered Nozny’s compositions include Keith Aleo, the Caixa Trio, the Florida State University Percussion Ensemble, and NEXUS. Brian’s most recent commission, an original work for percussion octet, trick, was commissioned James Campbell and the Percussive Arts Society for the PAS Collegiate All-Star Percussion Ensemble and was premiered at PASIC 2019 in Indianapolis, IN. Brian’s compositions have been published by Bachovich Music Publications, Henmar Press, Innovative Percussion, Row-Loff Productions, and Tap Space Publications, and have been recorded on the Garnet House, Rattle Records, and Resonator Records labels.
Currently an Assistant Professor of Music at McNeese State University where he is the Director of Percussion Studies, Nozny holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Virginia Tech, Master’s degrees in Composition and Performance from the University of Miami and the University of North Texas respectively, and his Doctoral degree in Percussion Performance from the University of Kentucky. His primary percussion teachers include James Campbell, John Willmarth, Mark Ford, Christopher Deane, Paul Rennick, Ed Smith, Ed Soph, and Ney Rosauro; his compositional training has benefited from study with Jon Nelson, Don Wilson, and Jon Polifrone.
Brian is proud to be endorsed by Evans Drumheads, Innovative Percussion, Pearl Corporation/Adams Musical Instruments, and SABIAN Cymbals.
More information on Brian can be found on his website at www.briannozny.com.
Jay Bocook is internationally recognized as a composer, arranger, conductor, and educator. His works have been performed at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, and the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. In 2003, Bocook was a contributing arranger to the musical CyberJam, which opened to rave reviews at London’s Queen’s Theatre. Currently he is working as the arranger for Blast! The Music of Disney, which will open in Tokyo, Japan in the summer of 2017.
In 2003, the U.S. Marine Band premiered Jay’s transcriptions of the film music of John Williams at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. An encore performance with Williams and “The President’s Own” took place in 2008. Jay’s transcription of Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Suite from “On the Waterfront” can be heard on the 2015 Marine Band CD Elements.
In 1982, Bocook was appointed director of bands at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. In 1989, he left to pursue other opportunities as an arranger for Jenson Publications, but returned to Furman in 2000 as Director of Athletic Bands. He remains a principal composer and arranger for Hal Leonard, where he has published over 600 arrangements and original compositions.
Bocook served as arranger for the ten-time world champion Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps from 1993-2016, and currently serves in the same capacity for the Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps of Denver, CO. In 2009, he was inducted into the Drum Corps International Hall of Fame, and in 2011 he was elected into the American Bandmasters Association.
Named a “one-woman dynamo” by The Boston Globe and Boston’s Best 2018 “Creative Catalyst” by The Improper Bostonian, Maria Finkelmeier is a percussionist, composer, public artist, educator, and arts entrepreneur. Maria has created large-scale multimedia events in public spaces from Cincinnati to Northern Sweden, with several locations in Boston, including Fenway Park, Charlestown Navy Yard, Edison Power Plant, and Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum.
Empowered by and curious about the sonic world, Maria finds music, narrative, and collaboration in unexpected places. She’s created entire works from found, non-traditional sounds, and transformed iconic structures into percussive playgrounds. She’s been commissioned by the National Parks Service, BLINK Cincinnati, TEDx Cambridge, New Gallery Concert Series, i = u festival, the Illuminus Festival, Boston Center for the Arts, and the Outside the Box Festival. In 2018, she released her debut album “A Line that Terminates at the Present,” which according to I Care if Your Listen “skillfully weaves together her talent as an improviser with her technical prowess as a percussionist into a lively narrative.”
An experienced entrepreneur, Maria has founded and directed numerous ventures, including Kadence Arts, Make Music Boston, Quartet Kalos, Masary Studios, and Ensemble Evolution. Dedicated to shaping the next generation of creators and arts administrators, she is an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music and Lecturer at Northeastern University’s Music Industry Leadership program and from 2012 – 2015 she served as the program manager of the Entrepreneurial Musicianship Department at New England Conservatory. Prior to rooting in New England, Maria spent three years in Northern Sweden at the Piteå Institution for Music and Media as an artist in residence.
Maria received a Bachelor of Music degree from The Ohio State University and a Master of Music degree from Eastman School of Music, where she was granted a Performer’s Certificate in recognition of her artistic achievements and Arts Leadership Certificate. Maria is Yamaha Performing Artist, and additionally endorses Grover Pro Percussion, Vic Firth, and Remo.
www.mariafinkelmeier.com
In 2009, Tom assumed the role of percussion arranger/ composer for the Bluecoats Drum & Bugle Corps, after serving as the front ensemble arranger since 2002. Prior to his involvement with the Bluecoats, he was a marching and percussion staff member with the Cadets.
Tom is a member of the United States Air Force Band Ceremonial Brass, stationed at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, DC; where he serves as the percussion section leader. He’s held this position since receiving a Bachelor of Arts in percussion performance from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1997.
Tom serves as a composer, arranger, clinician, consultant, and adjudicator for various marching band, drum corps and pageantry organizations around the world. He is proud to be a signature artist for Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets and also endorses Evans Drumheads and Zildjian cymbals.
Dave Hall is Associate Professor of Percussion and coordinator of the percussion program at the University of Nebraska. Under his direction, the University of Nebraska Percussion Ensemble was selected to perform a showcase concert at PASIC in both 2019 and 2016 as winners of the Percussive Arts Society International Percussion Ensemble Competition (IPEC). Before his appointment in Lincoln he was a percussion instructor at Texas Christian University (TCU) and also taught lessons, ensembles, and courses at the University of North Texas as a teaching fellow.
He regularly performs as a marimba and multi-percussion soloist, collaborative chamber musician especially in contemporary classical settings, jazz drummer, orchestral percussionist, steel pan player, and improviser – favoring an eclectic and omnivorous approach to percussion and the arts. In addition to regular engagements in the contiguous United States, he has also performed abroad in Spain, Puerto Rico, Belgium, France, Italy, and at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
Dave is an active composer, published by C. Alan Publications. His works for percussion have been commissioned, performed, and recorded around the world. His music has been called “the aural equivalent of a Dali painting” (New York Concert Review). His compositions are regularly performed at notable venues including the Midwest Clinic, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, The National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy, and at major concert halls and performing arts centers in the USA and abroad. He’s regularly involved nationally and internationally as an adjudicator and clinician for concert and marching percussion. In the summer of 2019, he joined the staff of the Bluecoats (DCI) as Associate Music Ensemble Coordinator.
Dr. Hall has earned degrees in percussion performance from the University of North Texas (D.M.A), TCU (M.M.), and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (B.M.). He is an endorsing artist for Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets, Pearl/Adams concert percussion, Remo drumheads, and is a member of the Black Swamp Percussion Educator Network. He currently resides in Lincoln, Nebraska with his wife Elizabeth and their children Ariadne, Emily, and Porter.
Rob Ferguson is currently the Percussion Arranger and Percussion Caption Coordinator for the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps from Rockford, Illinois. In addition to his role with Phantom Regiment, Rob is also the Director of Matrix Performing Arts from Akron, Ohio which includes two WGI indoor percussion ensembles; Matrix World and Matrix Open. Rob also serves as the Music Designer for Matrix Open and as the Design Coordinator and Music Designer for Matrix World and has since its inception in 1999. Rob is also currently the Percussion Designer for the DCA Skyliners Drum and Bugle Corps. Rob served as the Percussion Coordinator and Percussion Arranger for the Glassmen Drum and Bugle Corps from Toledo, Ohio, from 2008-2012, the Percussion Arranger for the Hawthorne Caballeros Drum and Bugle corps from 2012-2015, and the Percussion Designer for Fusion Core in 2019. Rob previously served as a percussion representative for the Mideast Performance Association and currently serves as the Percussion Education Director for the Ohio Indoor Performance Association, as well as as a member of the WGI Percussion Advisory Board.
Rob holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Music in Music Performance from Kent State University where he studied with Michael Burritt and Ted Rounds. He previously served as adjunct percussion faculty and assistant marching band director at Youngstown State University, and currently is the Design Coordinator Norton High School bands in Northeast Ohio, John Hersey High School from Illinois, Moon Area High School in Pennsylvania, and is the Percussion Arranger for Edinburg North HS in Texas. Rob is an active clinician and adjudicator for both the indoor and outdoor marching activities. He has presented clinics on marching percussion, keyboard percussion, arranging, and amplification in the marching activity throughout the U.S. and in Europe including the 2007 PAS convention, the 2008 Indoor Percussion Europe Championships, and as a part of the 2016 Chiayi City International Band Festival in Chiayi City, Taiwan. Ferguson has also performed as a marimba clinician and guest artist with numerous high schools and college percussion ensembles.
In addition to teaching, Rob works professionally as a composer/ arranger for both marching and concert percussion ensembles as well as a designer, program coordinator, and consultant for outdoor and indoor marching ensembles throughout the U.S. and abroad. He is the owner of Ferguson Design Solutions, a company providing custom arrangements, original compositions for both marching ensemble and concert percussion, consulting, and design resources for marching bands, drum corps, and indoor percussion ensembles in all major arenas of the pageantry arts. Rob is also a sales representative for Field & Floor FX. Currently residing in Cuyahoga Falls, OH, Rob is an endorser and clinician for Mapex & Majestic Percussion, Innovative Percussion, the Avedis Zildjian Co., Planet Waves, Pageantry Innovations, Presonus, and Remo Inc.
Taylor Ambrosio Wood started her music career when she was 9 years old playing the Zimbabwean marimba and mbira (a traditional Shona thumb piano). She continued to pursue her passion for music by studying percussion and composition at The Boston Conservatory of Music. Taylor then completed her M.M. in Scoring for Film, Television, and Video Games at The Berklee College of Music in Valencia, Spain, at age 22, and recorded her thesis at AIR Studios in London.
Taylor has worked as an arranger and orchestrator for various film and video game projects, including A R Rahman Live, and composed tracks for the cult smash-hit game, Yandere Simulator. Most recently, she produced The Last of Us Remixed, as well as composed soundtracks for The Window Box and Balthazar’s Dream. You can also find her music featured in The Believer magazine’s collection of progressive and avant-garde music from indie video games, 2010-2018.
www.taylorambrosiowood.com
Chad Heiny, born April 26, 1980 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, is a multifaceted freelance musician and educator residing in the Greater Pittsburgh Area (PA). An avid, versatile, and regularly commissioned composer, Chad has created music for an eclectic collection of ensembles and performers across the globe. His works, including a World Premiere at the 2018 Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC), are published by both Tapspace Publications and C. Alan Publications. He also holds positions as Music Editor with Tapspace Publications, Program Coordinator for the Blue Knights Drum & Bugle Corps, and is an adjudicator for Winter Guard International.
Chad has been a passionate contributor to the pageantry arts since 1999, and prior to his current role at the Blue Knights, he arranged, coordinated, or consulted for several DCI World Championship Finalists including The Cadets, Spirit of Atlanta, Boston Crusaders, and Glassmen. An acclaimed percussion arranger, wind arranger, and program coordinator for high school and collegiate marching bands across the country, Chad’s work throughout the fall has won the hearts and minds of students, staffs, fans, and adjudicators. Accolades here include a 3rd Place Finish (and the award for High Music) with the Hebron High School Marching Band at the 2019 Bands of America Grand National Championships, several BOA Regional Champions, and many BOA Regional Finalists. He can also be seen walking across Heinz Field on game days as Creative Consultant for the Pittsburgh Steeline.
Chad earned a Master’s Degree in Music Performance from Louisiana State University and Bachelor’s Degrees in Music Education and Music Performance from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of both the Percussive Arts Society and ASCAP, and is a proud endorser of Innovative Percussion, Majestic Percussion, and Remo Drumheads.
www.chadheiny.com
Jim Casella is a composer and music publisher. He is best known for the music he’s created for percussion ensembles and the world-class drum corps Vanguard (Santa Clara, CA) and Cavaliers (Rosemont, IL). The company he co-founded, Tapspace, is one of the leading publishers of percussion music in the world. You might also be familiar with the software sample library he created called Virtual Drumline.
Jim’s signature series of drumsticks and keyboard mallets are manufactured by Innovative Percussion and are popular worldwide. He serves on the board of advisors for the Percussive Arts Society (PAS), the world’s largest percussion organization.
In addition to his work in the percussion industry, Jim composes music for film and commercials. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
www.jimcasella.com
Called “alluring” and “wildly inventive” by The New York Times, the music of American composer Viet Cuong has been performed on six continents by musicians and ensembles such as Sō Percussion, Eighth Blackbird, Alarm Will Sound, PRISM Quartet, Albany Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and Minnesota Orchestra, among many others. Viet’s music has been featured in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center, and his works for wind ensemble have amassed hundreds of performances worldwide. Passionate about bringing these different facets of the contemporary music community together, his upcoming projects include a concerto for Eighth Blackbird with the United States Navy Band and a Sousa-inspired work for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Viet also enjoys exploring the unexpected and whimsical, and he is often drawn to projects where he can make peculiar combinations and sounds feel enchanting or oddly satisfying. His recent works thus include a snare drum solo, percussion quartet concerto, and, most recently, a double oboe concerto. Currently the 2020 Early Career Musician-in-Residence at the Dumbarton Oaks, he was recently appointed the California Symphony’s 2020-2023 Young American Composer-in-Residence. Viet holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music (AD), Princeton University (MFA), and Peabody Conservatory (BM/MM).
vietcuongmusic.com
Photo credit: Saverio Truglia
Third Coast Percussion is a Grammy Award-winning Chicago-based percussion quartet. For fifteen years, the ensemble has created exciting and unexpected performances that constantly redefine the classical music experience. The ensemble has been praised for “commandingly elegant” (New York Times) performances, the “rare power” (Washington Post) of their recordings, and “an inspirational sense of fun and curiosity” (Minnesota Star-Tribune). Third Coast Percussion maintains a busy tour schedule, with past performances in 34 of the 50 states plus international tour dates in Colombia, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Taiwan, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, and Poland.
You can read Third Coast Percussion’s full bio here.
www.thirdcoastpercussion.com
Matt Filosa is a freelance percussionist, composer, and arranger currently residing in Euless, Texas. Co-owner of the marching arts design company Synced Up Designs, Matt writes, designs, and teaches groups all over the country. From 2011 to 2014, Matt was the drumline instructor for the Marching Chiefs at The Florida State University. Matt earned a Masters degree in percussion performance from the University of North Texas and Bachelors degree in percussion performance from the University of Florida.
Dr. Matt Jordan has been the front ensemble arranger for McM since 2014. Matt marched 6 years in the organization, from 2000-2005, and has served on the instructional staff in various capacities since he aged out. Matt is also currently the Music Coordinator and Electronics Designer for the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps, and a Music Advisor for the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps. Outside of the marching arts, Matt teaches percussion at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, AL and is an active classical percussionist, adjudicator, and arranger. For more information on Matt, visit his website, www.mattjordanpercussion.com.
MIKE JACKSON has, for over two decades, been writing, teaching & designing shows for some of the most widely recognized Percussion programs in the U.S. Jackson, a Winter Guard International (WGI) Hall Of Fame inductee & current board member, has played a key role in leading his ensembles to a staggering seven World Championships.
Jackson is a co-founder and current board member for the Southern California Percussion Alliance (SCPA) and is currently the Percussion Composer & Arranger for the Blue Knights Drum & Bugle Corps. In addition, Jackson has a long-standing artist partnership with Yamaha and his own signature drumstick with Vic Firth Company.
His extraordinary reputation in Education, and specifically his visionary approach to the art of Percussion, has earned Jackson an unprecedented level of respect and admiration around the world.
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KEVIN SHAH is an active designer and educator in the the world of the marching arts. As a composer for winds and percussion, Kevin owns and operates projectRISEmusic.com which features many of his works for marching band and percussion ensemble.
Previously, Kevin designed for George Mason University (2012 WGI Independent Open Champion) and served as a consultant for Rhythm X. Kevin also serves on both the WGI Board of Directors and Percussion Steering Committee. Kevin also loves teaching and arranging for percussion ensemble, and during his 10 years teaching at Canyon High School in Anaheim Hills, they earned 4 consecutive Gold Medals from 2014-2017 at SCPA Championships in the Concert Oepn Class.
With over a decade of experience arranging for Winds and Marching Band, Kevin is the current Wind and Front Ensemble Composer/Arranger for Arcadia High School and Vista Murrieta High School. Previously he served as the wind composer/arranger for Upland High School (2010-2018) and Nogales High School (2011-2015). Other Marching Band clients include: Avon High School, Byron Nelson High School, Foothill High School – CA, Plymouth Canton High School, Northwestern High School.
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Omar Carmenates is currently the Associate Professor of Percussion at Furman University in Greenville, SC where he oversees all aspects of the percussion program including classical, jazz, and world percussion studies. He holds a Doctor of Music degree from Florida State University, a Master of Music Degree in Percussion Performance from the University of North Texas, and a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of Central Florida. Omar is also a versatile musician and his debut solo recording, entitled The Gaia Theory, was released through Rattle Records in 2013. He can also be heard on the Cantaloupe Records release of John Luther Adams’ concert-length Inuksuit for 9-99 outdoor percussionists, a work that he both co-commissioned and directed in its United States premiere. He is also the director, producer, and arranger of “The John Psathas Percussion Project”, a collaboration aimed at recording and performing percussion ensemble arrangements of the works of New Zealand’s most prominent composer, John Psathas. The recordings and scores from this project are published through PARMA Records and Promethean Publications.
Omar is a proud endorser/artist for Grover Pro Percussion, Vic Firth, Inc. Remo Drumheads, Zildjian Cymbals, and Pearl Corporation/Adams Musical Instruments.
