3. Bard College-Conservatory of Music – Annandale-On-Hudson, NY
Notable Faculty: All Four Members of Sō Percussion
What if you had the opportunity, as a talented, sophisticated, and ambitious young percussionist, to study with one of the most famous percussion groups in America, who have commissioned contemporary classical artists, performed with the likes of mainstream musicians Matmos and the Dirty Projectors, and have been universally acclaimed as a chamber ensemble who has ‘made it?’ At the Bard College-Conservatory, you get to entertain the truly unique experience of working with one of the most prestigious chamber quartets of any genre of any instrument in the world, Sō Percussion. Applicants at Bard are routinely given scholarships to study at an institution noted for both its conservatory as well as its bustling academic and liberal culture.
Listen to the Faculty: Check out Sō Percussion on their album of Steve Mackey’s Music It Is Time
2. Curtis Institute of Music – Philadelphia, PA
Notable Faculty (Curtis): Robert Van Sice, Don Liuzzi
For an education deeply rooted in traditional percussion and timpani performance, look no further than Don Liuzzi of the Curtis Institute of Music. An active member of the prestigious Philadelphia Orchestra, Liuzzi is considered one of the foremost performers of traditional timpani parts of the symphonic literature. Other faculty members at Curtis include Rolando Morales-Matos, a diverse percussionist equally at home in classical as well as jazz and world music performance.
At Curtis, we see the incredibly busy and active Robert Van Sice on the faculty, who also holds teaching positions at Yale and Peabody. As one of the modern masters of the marimba, and as one of the most highly esteemed and in-demand pedagogues for percussion in the entire world, along with the likes of Nancy Zeltsman, Joseph Gramley, and Gordon Gottlieb, Robert Van Sice is one of the most attractive and desirable faculty members to study with. You can receive equally good instruction from Robert Van Sice at Curtis, Peabody, or Yale.
Listen to the Faculty: Check out Robert Van Sice playing marimba on Martin Bresnick’s masterful 2005 disc My Twentieth Century
1. Yale School of Music – New Haven, CT
Notable Faculty (Both Schools): Robert Van Sice
Artist-faculty who teaches at both Yale and Peabody, Robert Van Sice, teacher to over 400 master classes worldwide to student percussionists, and commissioner of music by the most important living composers of our time, is the director of two of the most coveted percussion studios in the entire nation. His students have created some of the most dynamic and famed contemporary chamber music groups active today, including the prolific New York City quartet Sō Percussion. Students are given free tuition at Yale to study with the modern marimba master, and are frequently fellows at the Yale School of Music’s Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Opportunities to grow as a percussionist are rich and varied at both the Yale School of Music.