Frank Kumor currently teaches at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and appears throughout the eastern United States. Before his position at Kutztown University, Mr. Kumor held the position of Resident Marimba Artist for Kori Percussion USA. At the present time, he is a performing artist for Yamaha Percussion, USA. (Added 2004.07.04)

Kuniko+Movses | Marimba & Violin Duo
Kuniko and Movses Pogossian (vl.) will perform marimba & violin duo concerts in US & Japan in Nov. 2010.
Back in 2008 at Monday Evening Concerts (MEC) in LA we performed Keiko Harada?s Bone#, a very difficult piece, and Movses played expressively and perfectly. Since then we?ve been talking about doing duo again.
The program includes 3 newly commissioned pieces for violin and marimba (percussions) by Vatche Sharafyan & Artur Avanesov from Armenia and Miyuki Ito from Japan.
Also the performance includes a few pieces from beautiful ?Armenian Song? by Komitas, etc..

Dates & Venues
Sun, Oct 31st, Zipper Music Hall, Los Angeles, CA ? Dilijian Chamber Music Series
Sat, Nov 4th, Munetsugu Hall, Nagoya, Japan - http://www.munetsuguhall.com/
Thu, Nov 11th, BankART Studio NYK, Yokohama, Japan - http://www.bankart1929.com/

Tickets are available through ticket@kuniko-kato.net
General Inquiries: info@kuniko-kato.net
The concerts in Japan are co-presented by Embassy of the Republic of Armenia in Japan.
Please see the site for details.
http://www.kuniko-kato.net/concert/concerts-en.html
ticket@kuniko-kato.netinfo@kuniko-kato.net

Tomoko KUSAKARI is actively playing all around Japan. Famous for the commissioned works like "Divertiment" by Seiji Yokoyama. Several CDs as well. Miyoshi's Etudes Concertante was premiered by her duo (Fujii/Kikuchi Duo : Kikuchi = Kusakari) (updated 1997.11.18)

Frederick Liessens is the principal percussionist with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Composer/Arranger, specialist in Marimba, Vibraphone, Steel Drums. (Added 1997.6.12)

Born in Palo Alto, California, but raised in Rochester, N.Y. Joe Locke is regarded by many to be the vibraphonist of his generation. Although a self-taught improvisor, he benefited from his early studies in classical percussion and composition at the Eastman School of Music with John Beck, Gordon Stout, Ted Moore and Warren Benson. As a jazz musician, Locke was precocious, having played with such luminaries as Dizzy Gillespie and Mongo Santamaria before he was even out of high school.

Since moving to New York City in 1981, Joe has performed with Grover Washington Jr., Kenny Barron, Dianne Reeves, Eddie Daniels, Jerry Gonzales' Fort Apache Band, Elvis Costello, The Beastie Boys, Eddie Henderson, Hiram Bullock, Ron Carter, The Mingus Big Band and Randy Brecker, among many others.

Joe has toured extensively throughout the world, both as leader and guest soloist. Some highlights include a 16 city tour of Russia, which culminated in a concert with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of world-renowned violist, Yuri Bashmet: a 30 city tour of all major capitals of Europe, performing Charles Mingus' magnum opus, "Epitaph", as a featured soloist under the direction of distinguished conductor, Gunther Schuller; a series of volcanic duet concerts in Italy with pianist Cecil Taylor, where Joe went head-to-head for three nights with the indisputed high priest of the avante-garde.

The critical community continually cites Joe for his artistic work. "There seems little doubt that Locke, with his ability to play cool and funky, heady and relaxed, is set to become the pre-eminent vibraphonist in jazz." (The Times, London)

This year Joe was voted the #1 vibist in DownBeat Magazine's Critic's Poll (TDWR) and Brazil's International Jazz Poll.Locke has recorded 16 cds as a band leader, including the Grammy nominated "Moment to Moment", a tribute to the music of Henry Mancini. As a sideman, he appears on more than 40 recordings.

Joe is currently on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music and The New School, both in New York City. Joe Locke endorses Ross Mallet Instruments and Pro-Mark Mallets exclusively. (Added 2003.9.21)

Before coming to America Jeannine performed as a solo artist at the Konzervatorium Z

Marimba Sol de Chiapasis the quartet specializing in the musical traditions of Mexico and Central America via a beautiful and enchanting authentic instrument from Chiapas, Mexico. The first group of its kind permanently based within the United States and calling Kansas City home since 1991 (formerly as Marimba Yajal

Linda Maxey began studying piano at the age of four and marimba at age six. Her first major performance was in Madison Square Garden in New York at the age of eleven when she performed for the Kiwanis International Convention. She was the first marimbist to be added to the prestigious roster of Columbia Artists Management in New York. She has been a featured soloist at the Percussive Arts Society International Conventions in Philadelphia and San Antonio. An accomplished arranger as well as performer, many of Ms. Maxey's transcriptions have been published by Southern Music Company. During the past 17 years, Linda Maxey has performed on hundreds of Community Concert series in almost every state of the union and has concertized in Canada and Europe. Her New York debut was in 1990 at the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall. She toured Lithuania in May, 1996, playing concerts with orchestras as well as performing at the Lithuanian Academy of Music in Vilnius.(Added 1999.11.12)

An alumni of The North Carolina School of the Arts and the Mannes Conservatory of Music in NYC, PJ Merola maintains an active career and is one of the few solo percussionist/marimbists working today. He received an exclusive award in Solo Percussion Performance from the National Endowment for the Arts (USA) in 1997 and collaborates/performs/composes extensively with many groups and organizations. He is a large advocate of multi-media expression and new music, while maintaining a focus on classical transcriptions and adaptations within the medium.(Added 2002.05.03)

Fernando Meza is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Percussion Studies at the University of Minnesota School of Music (Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A). He has also held teaching positionas at The Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A), the Universidad de Costa Rica (San Jose, Costa Rica), and the Instituto Nacional de Musica (San Jose, Costa Rica).

Fernando started his musical studies at age 9 in the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica and later moved to the U.S.A. to study at Carnegie-Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) Baylor University (Waco, Texas), and University of Michigan (Ann, Arbor, Michigan). His teachers include Stuart Marrs, John Soroka, Larry Vanlandingham, and Michael Udow.

Fernando has had a wide variety of interests and musical experiences throughout his career, including orchestral, chamber-music, contemporary, folk, world-music, experimental, solo, and musical theatre. He served as Principal Percussionist/Assistant Timpanist of the Costa Rica National Symphony Orchestra from 1989-1991 and can currently be heard performing or touring with the Minnesota Orchestra or the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra two of the groups with whom he performs regularly.
He has performed with marimba virtuoso Keiko Abe in Japan, the U.S.A. and Costa Rica and recorded "Conversation in the Forest" for her album "Marimba Spiritual: Keiko Abe and the World's Leading Percussionists". He also performs regularly with the "Jovan Perkussion Projekt" along with marimbist/percussionist/composer Nebojsa Zivkovic and has recorded his "Trio per Uno" for the CD "The Castle of the Mad King", and "Lamento e Danza Barbara" for the CD "Composer's Portrait" two of Zivkovic's highly successful CDs.

He was one of the original percussionists for the world-premiere of the Broadway show of "The Lion King" and can be heard on the original-cast CD recording of the show on the Sony label. He has also recorded for the Equilibrium, Denon-Columbia, BIS, Redwood Records, Reference, and D'Note labels.

As a great enthusiast of contemporary chamber music emanating from Latin America, he also performs with the percussion quintet GRUPO CLAVE along with fellow musicians Orlando Cotto, Rolando Morales-Matos, Bismarck Fernandez, and Carlomagno Araya.

He has recently finished recording "Chorado" by Brazilian guitarist Guinga, in his own arrangement for marimba and flugelhorn with Chuck Lazarus, principal trumpet of the Canadian Brass, and has also recorded 3 of the 6 Cello Suites by J.S. Bach. This CD should be available by the end of 2005.