       |
|
In April 2004, in New York City, composer/percussionist Andrew Beall performed the world premiere of his Testament: Symphony for Marimba and Orchestra with the Tower Philharmonic. An hour long, four-movement work, this piece marks as the first marimba symphony in history ever to be composed or performed. Since the premiere, he has reduced the opus to a shorter, three-movement Concerto, which had its world premiere with the Aspen Philharmonic in the summer of ‘06. The most recent performance was during PASIC ’07 with the Columbus Philharmonic. As a composer, Mr. Beall’s works have been performed at the top conservatories, universities, and music festivals around the world. As a guest artist and clinician, he has presented concerts and workshops across the country, many of which feature a portrait of his compositions. In the field of marching percussion, he has taught drum and bugle corps such as the Santa Clara Vanguard, Carolina Crown, (arranging the 2003 winning D.C.I. Percussion Ensemble), and most recently at the Boston Crusaders. Mr. Beall has also written and designed indoor percussion shows for such as Odyssey Percussion Theater, Surround Sound, and Mt. Juliet High School. His latest commission—Glass Jungle, for solo percussion and percussion quartet—will be premiered in April ’08 at the Louisiana Day of Percussion. His second orchestral work, conceived as a concerto for solo percussion and orchestra, will have its world premiere in June ‘08 at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center. Mr. Beall received his B.M. from the Manhattan School of Music, his M.A. from New York University, and was a Charles Owen Memorial Fellowship winner at the Aspen Music Festival. He is pleased to return to his alma mater, Manhattan School of Music, to teach at their Pre-College. His debut studio CD, Deliverance, was released on BMP Records and features four of his latest percussion chamber pieces. He is the founder/owner of Bachovich Music Publications (www.bachovich.com), Beall Percussion Specialties (www.beallpercussion.com), and is an endorsing artist of Innovative Percussion, Pearl Drum Corporation, and Evans Drumheads.
Return to top Mr. Beall is a self-taught musician with no formal musical education. His most memorable live performances were in 1979 when he played guitar in an orchestra with Dave Brubeck on piano in Brubeck’s Christmas choral pageant, La Fiesta de la Posada; and also in 1979 when he played mandolin in a chamber group that performed a George Crumb composition, Ancient Voices of Children. He was also in Flute & Guitar duo and performed many flute and guitar works including Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Sonatina for Flute & Guitar. Steven Beall has composed a number of works for guitar, including 24 Fugal Misadventures for 2 Guitars (2003) and Calico Dreams for Marimba and Guitar (2000). A partial world premier of Calico Dreams was given in New York City in May 2005 by Andrew Beall, marimba and Evan Drummond, guitar. They performed the first three movements of this five-movement suite. Steven Beall edited and published Andrew Beall’s Testament: Symphony for Marimba and Orchestra (2004). This was the culmination of a life-long dream to learn the elements of classical music notation and develop the knowledge to understand how to read and interpret an orchestral score. Return to top Return to top
Marc Damoulakis, born in Massachusetts, is currently a member of the percussion section of the Cleveland Orchestra. Prior to joining the Cleveland Orchestra in 2006, Mr. Damoulakis performed regularly with the New York Philharmonic for three seasons, also accompanying them on their national and international tours. He has held tenure positions as principal timpanist of the Long Island Philharmonic, assistant principal percussion of the Harrisburg Symphony and percussionist in the Sun Valley Summer Symphony. Marc has also played with the Atlanta Symphony, Houston Symphony, Kirov Orchestra, Canadian Brass, and Florida West Coast Symphony. As a chamber musician, he performed a joint recital of piano/percussion music with Emanuel Ax at Lincoln Center. He was also a founding member of the Time Table Percussion Quartet based in NYC. He has taught master classes and clinics nationally, traveling to the Manhattan School of Music, Boston Conservatory, Cleveland Institute of Music, University of Miami, and DePaul University, and remains committed to teaching students in his private studio in Cleveland. As a student, he participated in the Tanglewood Music Center, Spoleto Festival Italy and the Pacific Music Festival. He is an alumnus of the New World Symphony, where he studied with music director Michael Tilson Thomas. Marc received a bachelor’s degree in Music from Manhattan School of Music, studying with Chris Lamb, Duncan Patton, and James Preiss. -Charlie Descarfino
Percussionist/Drummer/Composer His most recent position was serving as percussionist and assistant conductor for the Broadway run of Sweet Charity, and has been percussionist for numerous Broadway shows including, Thoroughly Modern Millie, City of Angels, The Who’s Tommy, Titanic, Suessical and the Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He has recorded on the Nonesuch, New World, Columbia, Sony, Decca, Opus One, Cadence, Knitting Factory, Omnitone, BMG and other labels and for jingles and major film releases including Disney’s Pocahontas, Mulan and the upcoming 2005 release of Mel Brooks “The Producers”. His compositions for percussion have been performed at colleges around the U.S including William Paterson University, Rowan College of NJ, Peabody Conservatory, The Aspen Music Festival, Cal State Hayward and many others. Contact: Email: CharlesTD@aol.com Phone: 845-365-0318
Michael received his Bachelor’s in Music Education with performance and composition emphasis from the University of Arkansas in 2004 and is currently pursuing a Masters in Percussion Performance at the University of Texas at Austin serving as the Longhorn Band Drumline instructor. In 2004, Mr. Eagle was the Percussion Director for the Edcouch-Elsa School District (XV-AAAA) in Edcouch, TX where his group and individual soloists were undefeated in Winter Drumline competitions. As a percussion specialist, Michael is active in performance, private student and public school teaching, contest adjudication, writing, consulting, and as a clinician. Michael’s drumline experiences include marching for Magic of Orlando in 2000 and for Phantom Regiment in 2001 and 2002. As a snare soloist, Michael finished in the top 10 at DCM, DCI, and PASIC competitions while winning the rudiment caption at PASIC in 2001 and 2002. In 2004, Michael was a co-founder and battery caption head for River Valley Regiment Winter Drumline out of Van Buren, AR. Eagle also served on the Memphis Sound Drum Corps staff as the tenor drum and drumline visual technician.
Return to top -Jonathan Haas Virtuoso timpanist Jonathan Haas has raised the status of the timpani to that of a solo instrument throughout his unique career that has spanned more than twenty years. From classical concertos to jazz and rock & roll, from symphonic masterpieces to the most experimental compositions of living composers, Haas has championed, commissioned, unearthed and celebrated music for his instrument, becoming, as Ovation magazine hailed him, "The Paganini of the timpani."His concerts on the world's most prestigious musical stages and his ground-breaking recordings have delighted critics and listeners on both sides of the ocean. The New York Times wrote, "Wherever one finds a percussion instrument waiting to be rubbed, shook, struck or strummed, [Haas] is probably nearby, ready to fulfill his duties with consummate expertise... he is a masterful young percussionist." Haas has garnered widespread praise and attention for his performances of Philip Glass' Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra, a piece conceived by Haas and completed because of his quest to spotlight the timpani. The Concerto Fantasy features not only two timpanists, but also 14 timpani, all placed downstage in front of the orchestra. In 2000, Haas performed the world premiere of the piece with the American Symphony, and he has subsequently performed it at Carnegie Hall and in Phoenix, New Jersey, Baltimore, Pasadena, Long Beach (California), St. Louis and Mexico City. Haas also performed the European premiere with the BBC Symphony in London, the world premiere of a chamber orchestra version with the Iris Chamber Orchestra in Memphis, the Czechoslovakian premiere with the Prague Symphony Orchestra at the International Music Prague Spring Festival, the Norwegian premiere with the Bergen Philharmonic, and he will perform the Australian premiere with the Sydney Symphony and the Turkish premiere with the Istanbul Philharmonic. Haas' successful efforts to expand the timpani repertoire have led him to commission and premiere more than 25 works by composers in addition to Philip Glass such as Stephen Albert, Marius Constant, Irwin Bazelon, Eric Ewazen, Thomas Hamilton, Robert Hall Lewis, Jean Piche, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Andrew Thomas, and many others. Haas also attracted plaudits when he built the world's largest timpani, which is nearly 6' wide, nearly 4' tall, and 70 inches in diameter, almost twice the size of the world's second-largest timpani (a 48-incher used by Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Orchestra). Haas discovered the kettle in an Aspen cow pasture. It had originally been used to manufacture Swiss cheese at the turn of the century and, remarkably, matched the exact size specifications of a timpani. Haas debuted a prototype of this unprecedented, incredible instrument at the Aspen Music Festival in August 2003, and it made its official premiere at the Percussive Arts Society's annual convention in Louisville, KY, in November 2003. Additionally, Haas recently invented a process to improve the performance of crash cymbals that has been developed into a new instrument called "The Master Series Anti-Lock Cymbal" produced by Zildjian, the largest manufacturer of cymbals in the world. Haas' recordings include the trail-blazing 18th Century Concertos for Timpani and Orchestra and Johnny H. and the Prisoners of Swing, both on Sunset Records. The latter was named for his jazz group and features innovative renderings of jazz compositions featuring "hot timpani" in front of a full jazz ensemble. His rediscovery of Duke Ellington's brilliant composition for jazz timpani, "Tympaturbably Blue," is included on this recording, as are other jazz standards played on a set of ten kettledrums. Demonstrating a remarkable versatility as a musician, Haas has performed and recorded with Emerson, Lake and Palmer, played on the Grammy Award-winning recording Zappa's Universe, recorded with Aerosmith, Michael Bolton, Black Sabbath, and explored heavy metal with his rock group Clozshave. The rarest of modern virtuosi, Haas embarked on his career as a solo timpanist by performing the only solo timpani recital ever presented at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1980. As an orchestral soloist, he made his debut with the New York Chamber Orchestra under Maxim Shostakovich and his European solo debut with the Bournemouth Sinfonietta. He made his French debut performing Andrez Panufnick's Concerto for Percussion, Timpani and Orchestra with the Orchestra de la Garde Republicaine. He was the soloist in the Druschetsky Concerto for Eight Timpani, Oboe and Orchestra with the Aspen Chamber Orchestra. He has also performed as a solo timpanist for the Distinguished Artists Recital Series at New York's 92nd Street 'Y' and as a guest artist with the Lincoln Center Chamber Society, the Chamber Music at the 'Y' Series, and the Newport Chamber Music Festival. He has championed new music by presenting adventuresome programming such as The Music of Frank Zappa, showcasing the music of Edgar Varese and Frank Zappa, under the auspices of Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series. Haas is the principal timpanist of the EOS Orchestra and the Aspen Chamber Orchestra and principal percussionist of the American Symphony Orchestra, as well as a member of the American Composers Orchestra. He performs with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, New York Pops, and New Jersey Symphony and has performed and recorded with the New York Philharmonic, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the New York Chamber Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and virtually every other New York-area performing arts organization. A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Haas received his Master's Degree from the Juilliard School as a student of Saul Goodman. An inspiring teacher, he has been the director of the Peabody Conservatory Percussion Studio for twenty years and a faculty artist of the Aspen Music School, and he conducts the percussion ensembles at both schools. He has presented master classes throughout the United States and internationally at the Toho Gauken, Hanoi Conservatory, Paris Conservatory, and the Graz Percussion School. Sharing his enthusiasm for music with young people, he has presented over two hundred concert-demonstrations with his "Drumfire" program, under the auspices of the Lincoln Center Institute, the New York Chamber Symphony's Sidney Wolff Children's Concert Series, and the Aspen Festival Young Person's Concert Series. As active an entrepreneur as he is an artist, Haas heads Sunset Records, Kettles and Company, and Gemini Music Productions (www.geminimusic.com), which contracts musicians for Lincoln Center, New York Pops, and many other organizations. He also works closely with percussion industry manufacturers Pearl/Adams, Promark and Zildjian, among others. Haas' official web site can be visited atwww.aboutjonathanhaas.com Return to top TOM HAMILTON has been composing and performing for over 40 years, and his work with electronic music originated in the late-60s era of analog synthesis. Hamilton often explores the interaction of many simultaneous layers of activity, prompting the use of “present-time listening” on the part of both performer and listener.
As guitarist, composer and vocalist, Joel Harrison occupies a musical space between many worlds. His medium is primarily jazz, but his music emanates from many sources: African and Indian, contemporary classical, blues and R&B all have a place in his unique voice. His all inclusive musical language has deep roots. He grew up in a time when artists as diverse as Miles Davis, The Band and the Country Gentleman might appear on the same bill. There were free format radio stations where stylistic collisions were common and performers like Jimi Hendrix and The Allman Brothers experimented with combining short songs with long, intricate instrumental escapades.
Harrison graduated from Bard College with a bachelors in composition in 1980 and studied with Joan Tower. While living in the San Francisco area in the 1990’s Harrison recorded 3 CDs (on the 9 Winds, Koch, and Spirit Nectar labels), and organized tribute concerts to a number of great jazz artists including Jim Pepper and Jimmy Guiffre, in which artists such as Dewey Redman, Steve Adams, and Bob Moses performed. After moving to New York City in 1999, he continued his headlong rush into ever-inventive bands and projects, including Free Country, Harrison on Harrison, and Harbor. Harrison is best known for his composing and arranging skills, and has twice been selected as the winner of the Jazz Composer’s Alliance Julius Hemphill Composition Competition. He has been the recipient of numerous grants from Chamber Music America, Meet the Composer, the Cary Trust, NYSCA etc., and has been a guest of the MacDowell and VCCA artist colonies. 2003’s Free Country – featuring Norah Jones, Uri Caine and David Binney won critics’ awards in both the U.S. and Europe and was named by many critics as one of the best CDs of the year. Harrison has written numerous film scores for HBO, A&E, and the History Channel and has performed with Dewey Redman, Marty Ehrlich, Adam Levy, Nels Cline, Jamey Haddad, Ben Wittman, Paul Hanson, Jen Chapin, Paul McCandless, David Liebman, Darol Anger, Mark Feldman, Uri Caine, and David Binney among others. He has performed around the world in festivals and clubs with: Joel Harrison Octet or Sextet (original instrumental jazz compositions); Free Country (radical renditions of old country and Appalachian music); Passing Train (pop/world/Americana songs); or Harrison on Harrison (re-composed improvisations of the music of George Harrision featuring Dave Liebman), Recent projects include his String Choir (string quartet and two guitars play music of Paul Motian). He just finished a new CD for Highnote Records entitled Harbor with internationally renowned guitarist Nguyên Lê, and just recorded his 60 minute chamber/jazz piece for double quartet entitled The Wheel. Return to top
Gregory Landes has appeared as both a timpanist and percussionist in many symphony orchestras, as well as a drummer and percussionist for many Broadway productions.
Brian S. Mason is a highly respected innovator of the contemporary marching percussion ensemble. In high demand as a clinician, designer, and adjudicator, he has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Japan, Canada, Korea, and Mexico. Brian gained worldwide recognition for his percussion writing and teaching with the Cavaliers and the Phantom Regiment Drum & Bugle Corps, claiming numerous awards and honors with both organizations during his tenure, and is currently the Percussion Coordinator and Designer with the Santa Clara Vanguard.
Rolando Morales-Matos (percussionist) received his BFA in music from Carnegie Mellon University, his MA from Duquesne University, and Certificate of Professional Studies at Temple University. He is a Percussionist and Assistant Conductor with Disney’s production of The Lion King, NYC. He performs and records regularly in New York with various Latin jazz Groups. He is the recipient of the 2006 Drum Magazine World Beat Percussionist of the Year award. Mr. Morales-Matos is a member of Ron Carter Jazz Quartet, Philadelphia Orchestra Percussion Group. He is a professor at both Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, NYC. Duncan Patton is a Principal Timpanist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and Co-Chair of the Percussion Department at the Manhattan School of Music. Prior to joining the Met, he was Principal Timpanist of the Honolulu Symphony. He has also performed with the Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble, the Met Chamber Ensemble, the Empire Brass, the New Renaissance Chamber Players, the Percussionists of the Met, and in a duo with the marimbist Mayumi Sekizawa. He has presented masterclasses in the US, Mexico and Japan, including at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. A composer of works primarily for percussion, his music has been performed in New York, throughout the U.S., Mexico City and Tokyo. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. Joseph Pereira has been the Assistant Principal Timpanist/Section Percussionist of the New York Philharmonic since January 1998. He received his master’s degree in percussion from The Juilliard School and a double bachelor’s degree in performance and composition/theory from Boston University. He currently teaches timpani and percussion at the Juilliard School.
New York City freelance Percussionist Deane Prouty holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance from the University of Lowell, (University of Massachusetts), and Professional Studies program at The Juilliard School. He has been on the Faculty of the University of Lowell Pre-College Division, The Utah Music Festival, and the prestigious Hoff-Barthelson Music School in Scarsdale, NY. He has taught Master Classes Nationally and Internationally at the Eastman School of Music, the Festival Internacional de Music Cabrils, Spain, and the Utah Music Festival. He holds two Patents of invention from the US government and is listed in Who’s Who of American Inventors. He has performed with numerous orchestras including the American Symphony, the American Composers Orchestra, The American Ballet Theater, The Joffrey Ballet, The Orchestra of St. Lukes, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, The Dance Theater of Harlem, The Mid-Atlantic Chamber Orchestra, The Brooklyn Philharmonic, The Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, The United Nations Symphony Orchestra, The Symphony of Long Island, Galatea and The Radio City Music Hall Orchestra. On Broadway, he has been a Percussionist for more then twenty shows including, Les Miserables, Light in the Piazza, Beauty and the Beast, Spamalot, Annie, Follies, Hairspray, Annie Get Your Gun, Secret Garden, Man of La Mancha, Song and Dance, Into the Woods, Grind, and Singing in the Rain. He spent seven years touring with the National Productions of Fiddler on the Roof, Music of the Night, West Side Story, Annie, and Beauty and the Beast, and has played in over 120 Cities in the US, Canada, and Europe. He is a specialist in Early Music performance on Baroque Timpani, and has performed at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Boston’s Symphony Hall, New York’s Lincoln Center, and other major concert halls with Grande Bande, The New York Early Music Foundation, The Handel & Haydn Society, New York Kammermusiker, The Clarion Ensemble, The Oslo Baroque Soloists, Concert Royale, Vox Ama Deus, Newport Baroque, The Connecticut Early Music Festival, Amor Artis, and The American Classical Orchestra. He has been a Percussionist for Melissa Manchester, Nell Carter, Bernadette Peters, Joel Grey, Vic Damone, Tony Bennett, Jane Olivor, Bobby Day, The Coasters, and Robert Goulet, and has recorded for CBS Records, Sony Classical, Musical Heritage, Delos, Dorian, Angel, New World Records, and Premier, and can be heard as Percussionist on the Grammy Award winning recording of “GYPSY” with Bernadette Peters. He is one of only a handful of musicians worldwide who perform on Deagan Novelty instruments, including the Organ Chimes (Shaker Chimes), Saucer Bells, Steel Marimbaphone, Marimbaphone, Aluminum Harp, Una-Fon, and Tuned Sleighbells. The Houston Chronicle wrote, “PABLO RIEPPI sparked a lot of buzz at intermission with his ability…he was rock solid no matter what position he had to contort into to play.” A native of Uruguay, Pablo is a highly sought-after musician in New York City, where he performs a wide range of music with some of the world’s leading artists. Pablo can be seen performing with The New York Philharmonic, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and The American Symphony Orchestra. Pablo performs with many other classical, new music, pop and world music groups including Gotham Symphony Orchestra (principal), Speculum Musicae, The Gotham Chamber Opera, The New York New Music Ensemble, DaCapo Chamber Players, Ensemble 21, and the Perspectives Ensemble (principal). He is a member of the Grammy-nominated Absolute Ensemble, the internationally acclaimed multimedia collective VisionIntoArt (percussionist, music director and composer), The New York Percussion Quartet, Columbia Sinfonietta, Dagmar and Weimarband, and performs around the world in renowned concert halls with numerous ensembles.
Pablo has performed or collaborated with some of the world’s greatest maestros such as Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin Davis, David Robertson, Loren Maazel, Riccardo Muti and Kurt Mazur, as well as with such world, jazz, rock and RandB luminaries as Joe Zawinul, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Paquito D’Rivera, Roger Daltrey, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Mike Keneally and Dhafer Youssef. As a soloist, Pablo has premiered several percussion works at The Riverside Church of New York‘s “Chapel Chamber Music Series”. Pablo has performed in the Broadway orchestras of Beauty and the Beast, The King and I, The Sound of Music, Swan Lake, Oklahoma, Nine, Dance of the Vampires, Thoroughly Modern Milly, The Frogs, Pacific Overatures, Little Women, Lestat and Fosse. He is currently the percussionist in Legally Blonde The Musical on Broadway. Pablo has recorded numerous film scores (including The Brave One, The Good Shepherd, Cassanova and You’ve Got Mail among others), television ads and new compositions with several ensembles. As a composer he has written music for the soundtrack of Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story, which won numerous prizes at several film festivals. His percussion and electronics piece “Rage and Peace” was performed by the New York University Percussion Ensemble. Three of his arrangements were performed by VisionIntoArt on a recent tour of Italy. Pablo is professor of music at Columbia University and Hofstra University, where he teaches privately and is director of the percussion ensemble. He is a teaching artist for The Lyric Chamber Music Society of New York and The American Composers Orchestra. He has a Masters Degree and Professional Studies Certificate from The Juilliard School, and a Bachelors degree from George Mason University. His new book Snare Drum Technique: Essential Basics for Daily Practice is now available through Bachovich Music Publications. Pablo proudly endorses Sabian Cymbals. Return to top -Mayumi Sekizawa
A native of Japan, Mayumi Sekizawa is a marimbist who has performed as a soloist across the United States, France, Germany, Austria, China, Belgium and Japan. She has won many national and international solo competitions, including the first prize at the 1994 Classical Music Competition (Japan), Manhattan School of Music Concerto Competition in 1998(USA), the first prize Grace Woodson Memorial Award of the Houston Symphony National Young Artist Competition in 2000 (USA), the third prize of the International Marimba Competition in 2001(Belgium) and IBLA Grand Prize Marimba Special Mention Award in 2003 (Italy). In 1994, Ms. Sekizawa was invited to perform for the Imperial Family in Japan. She made her concerto debut with the Houston Symphony Orchestra in 2000, which earned critical acclaim. In 2004, she performed at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall in New York. She has appeared in concerts of many music festivals, including Centre Acanthes 2000/Ircam (France) and International Festival for New Music in Darmstadt 2002(Germany). She was invited to International Marimba Festival in Belgium 2004 where she gave her solo recital. Ms. Sekizawa released her first CD “My Favorite Thing” from Aurora Classical in 2005. Ms. Sekizawa received both her bachelor and master’s degrees in marimba from the Musashino College of Music, Japan. She also holds a master’s degree and professional studies certificate in percussion from the Manhattan School of Music. Mayumi Sekizawa Official Website: www.mayumisekizawa.com Return to top Percussionist Joseph Tompkins has performed with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Opera, the New Jersey Symphony and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. On Broadway he has played in productions of The King and I, Swan Lake, Oklahoma!, The Lion King, The Producers, Spamalot, The Light in the Piazza and Tarzan. Tompkins has a performed on film soundtracks for The Manchurian Candidate, The Last Holiday, Failure to Launch, and Casanova. Currently he is a member of the percussion trio Timetable, a group committed to commissioning and performing new works for percussion. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the Manhattan School.
Larry Spivack is a percussionist, composer and arranger living in New York City. Born in Brooklyn in 1954, he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Brooklyn College, where his principal teacher was Morris “Arnie” Lang. During this time he took lessons from vibraphonist David Friedman. Mr. Spivack continued his studies at the Juilliard School, earning a Master of Music Degree. There his principal teachers were Saul Goodman and Elden “Buster” Bailey. In college Mr. Spivack began composing concert pieces featuring the vibraphone and other percussion instruments. His “Four Pieces,” “Soliloquy” and “Siciliano” were published by the Lang Percussion Company, as were several percussion ensembles. His most-performed work, the “Quartet For Paper Bags” was recently played in Denmark, Poland and Japan. Mr. Spivack’s scores for theatre include music for the Broadway production of Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” which featured Mikhail Baryshnikov in his theatrical debut, and the critically acclaimed New York Shakespeare Festival production of “Coriolanus” starring Christopher Walken. Other compositions include “Puss In Boots,” choreographed by Robert LaFosse and commissioned by the School of American Ballet, filmscores, and a three-second fanfare for brass, percussion and synthesizer aired on the ABC television network from 1980 -1982 to announce that programs were being broadcast with closed captioning. Mr. Spivack has worked as an arranger and orchestrator for Placido Domingo and Patti LaBelle. As a freelance percussionist, he has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, the American Symphony, and has played in 39 Broadway shows. He can be heard on the original cast albums of “Pirates of Penzance,” “The Tap Dance Kid,” “My Favorite Year,” “Triumph of Love” and “Marie Christine.” He is also the co-editor of “The Dictionary of Percussion Terms in the Symphonic Literature,” a reference book published by Carl Fischer. Mr. Spivack recently wrote and performed a one-man-show entitled “The Tune of the Unknown Soloist,” a collection of songs and true stories about what goes on behind the scenes in the music business, featuring anecdotes about working with Bob Fosse, conducting the Atlanta Symphony and the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus, touring Romania with a percussion ensemble and arranging music for strings in Honolulu.
Aaron Trant, percussion deemed by 21st Century Music
as a “fire-breathing”
percussionist, is both an active performer and
composer. Cited for his
“melodic, if unpitched, voice” (Spendidzine), he has
also received great
acclaim for his original score and solo percussion
performance of the Christ
Marker film, La Jetée. His eclectic knowledge of
classical, jazz, rock,
contemporary and improvised music has made him an
asset to many
ensembles throughout the United States. Aaron is the
cofounder, performer
and composer for the After Quartet, one of the few
groups dedicated to the
art of live musical accompaniment of silent film. He
is also the assistant
director and percussionist for the Boston based group
Firebird Ensemble, a
new music chamber group. Aaron is an original member
of Primary Duo, for
piano and percussion (Boston); Endy Emby for trumpet
and percussion, the
Adam James Wilson Quintet (NYC); High Street
Percussion (Miami,
Florida); and the frequently touring group Cordis. He
also performs regularly
with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Fromm
Players (Harvard;
Cambridge, MA) and with the new music group Alarm Will
Sound. Aaron
has been seen in a variety of concert venues including
Carnegie Hall, Jordan
Hall and Mexico’s Palacio de Bellas Artes. Now
residing in Boston, Aaron
can be heard on the Boiled Jar, Cauchemar, Nepenthe
and Stone Quarry
labels.
Return to top -Doug Wallace
Douglas Wallace lives in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and performs regularly as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral percussionist. As a soloist and chamber musician, he has worked with many ensembles including Theater Chamber Players, Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, The Battery Four Percussion Group, Washington Symphonic Brass and Percussion, and The Oblivion Ensemble. With these groups and others, he has performed as a guest artist and clinician at The Kennedy Center, The Cosmos Club, The Phillips Collection, The Freer Gallery, The National Gallery of Art, Constitution Hall, and The National Theater in Washington, D.C., The Academy of Music and The Morris Arboretum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, The Juilliard School in New York City, The Pyramid Arts Center in Rochester, New York, The Fame Music Festival in Princeton, New Jersey, The Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts in Huntington, New York, the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, the University of Maryland Summer Percussion Workshop in College Park, Maryland, and The Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox, Massachusetts. Mr. Wallace's orchestral background includes performances with The National Symphony Orchestra, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, The Washington National Opera, The Harrisburg Symphony, The Delaware Symphony, The Richmond Symphony, The Rochester Philharmonic, and the Alexandria Symphony. With these orchestras and others he has worked with world renowned conductors Lorin Maazel, Seiji Ozawa, James Levine, Leonard Slatkin, Kurt Mazur, Pierre Boulez, Placido Domingo, Jeffrey Tate, and Valery Gergiev. |
||||||||||||||||
|