Kazuko KISHIDA is an internationally well known Solo Marimba & Percussion Player. = Graduated Master course of Tokyo University of Arts. Many successful concerts at New York Carnegie Hall, Vienna = Musikverein Sall, Beijing Concert Hall. (Last Modified 1997.6.20)

Mr. Komori is active in promoting new music written for the marimba, captivating the audience with his dazzling performance skills. He has given numerous world premiere performances of composers in the United States and Japan. He is currently commissioning a series of new works from award-winning composers Kohei Mukai, Shafer Mahoney, and Tonika Ichinose.

Mr. Komori has received the Individual Artist Award in Instrumental Performance from the Maryland State Arts Council in 1998, was selected as a recitalist of the 1998-1999 Fairfax county recital series in Virgina State, and has performed extensively in the Baltimore-Washington area.

Mr. Komori received his Bachelor's degree as well as the prestigious Performer's Certificate at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with John Beck. He continued his studies at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he earned his Master's degree, with William Moersch, a marimba virtuoso. He is currently a full-schalorship student of the Graduate Performance Diploma at the Peabdy Conservatory of Music with internationally well-known marimbist, Robert Van Sice. (Added 1997.6.13, updated 1999.02.28)

Momoko KAMIYA is a graduate of Juliard Music School and the winner of the 1995 Luxemburg International Percussion Competition, Marimba section.
Since 1990, she is giving the recital series "Kamiya Momoko Marimba Recital - Oto * Sorekara (Sound - and then...)". She has also played with Yomiuri Nihon Symphony Orchestra, Nagoya Philharmony Orchestra, etc. Has appeard in such programs like "NHK FM Recital", "Best of Classics (NHK FM)" etc. Her CD includes "Childrens of Dyonisis (Dyonisia)", "Marimba Coctail (Phillips)", "Arabesque (Phillips)". She is currently actively playing mainly as solo marimbist.
Apart from giving performances, she also teaches at Senzoku Gakuen University, Okinawa Kenritsu Geijutsu University, Aichi Kenritsu Geijutsu University. (Last Modified 1998.5.6)

Born on 16 November 1957, Rich O'Meara is fluent in a wide variety of musical styles. As a member of One Earth Percussion Theatre, with Joseph McIntyre and Michael Wingo, he took part in innovative multi-media performances. He has performed with the Contemporary Music Forum, the Lenox Ensemble, and the New York based Sky Music. He was featured as marimba soloist with the Women Composers Orchestra and under the direction of Michel Camilo, was a guest artist at the 1998 Latin-Caribbean Festival at the Kennedy Center. With the new music ensemble Amaranth, he premiered Puzzle Piece for three marimbas. He has composed many works for percussion and small ensemble, some of which are published by Music for Percussion and Marimba Productions. His piece for solo marimba, Restless, was required repertoire for the 48th International Competition in Geneva, Switzerland. He took second place in the 1999 Percussive Arts Society Percussion Composition Contest with looking at "r", for two marimbas. His compositions can be heard on the Audite Schallplatten and the Koch Discover International record labels. He has also spent time playing jazz on vibes, marimba, and MIDI percussion with the Bruce Middle Group and Millennium; and alternative rock as drummer for Kismet. He has served as part time music faculty at Goucher College and the Levine School of Music. He studied percussion with Randy Eyles, Gar Whaley, Ron Barnett, and Leigh Howard Stevens and received a Bachelor of Music in percussion performance from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. (Added May 6, 2001)

Personal Blog in spanish about Percussion in general. You can found there stories, my free music-mp3-pdf and lessons and my thinking about diferents questions in relation with percussion and Music.
38 years of professional teaching and playing in Cuba and Spain.

Rin Ozaki is a marimbist and percussionist from Tokyo, Japan. She is a graduate of the Toho Gakuen School of Music where she studied with Keiko Abe and received degrees in marimba and percussion performance. Rin has studied with Gordon Stout in Ithaca NY, and also holds a master

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.

Since a very young age Ramon Lormans was interested in music. Aged 13 he was asked to join the Young Talent class of the Conservatory of Tilburg. There he took lessons with Willy Goudswaard. After three years of bachelor studies with Arnold Marinissen and Peter de Vries at the Conservatory of Tilburg Ramon Lormans studied at the Amsterdam conservatory where he finished his bachelor, and is now last year Master student with Jan Pustjens, Nick Woud, Victor Oskam, Peter Prommel, Gustavo Gimeno, Arnold Marinissen and Bart Schneemann.
In 2004 Ramon Lormans won the finals of the Princess Christina competition, open for all instruments. There he was awarded with a concert in Carnegie Hall - New York, a solo concert with The Brabants Orchestra, a live radio performance on World radio Netherlands with cd recording, and a concert in Dr. Anton Phillips zaal The Hague with live cd recording. In September 2006 Ramon Lormans won the third prize in the Tromp International Music competition for percussion solo. Ramon Lormans has been playing solo recitals and concerts in Netherlands and abroad, such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall New York (USA), Vredenburg Utrecht, Beurs van Berlage Amsterdam, Frits Phillips Eindhoven, Vrijthof Maastricht, Nieuwe Kerk Den Haag, Dr. Anton Phillipszaal Den Haag, De Toonzaal Den Bosch, Philharmonie Haarlem, Muziekgebouw aan het IJ Amsterdam, Percumania Percussion festival Paris (Fr), Orpheus festival for modern music (Be), Grachtenfestival (NL), Traces of rhythm festival (NL), Marimba days Detmold (De), Marimba festival Linz (Au), Donaueschinger musiktage (De), Gaudeamus modern Music week (NL).

Ramon Lormans founded the Duo Sax & Stix with Saxophone player Eva van Grinsven. The duo is searching for new repertoire and broad combinations for this setting. In 2007 Duo Sax & Stix won the National Chamber music Competition Almere - Netherlands. And in March 2008 they won the Vriendenkrans Competition by the Concertgebouw and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and were awarded by the Bernard Haitink foundation prize.

In the seasons 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 Ramon will be situated as Academic Percussionist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

From September 2008 Ramon Lormans is associated as Professor of Marimba next to Peter Prommel at the Amsterdam Conservatory.

He also has his own young talent class with seven young students who form the Percussion Friends group, which is directed by him.

Ramon Lormans is a performing artist for Adams musical instruments and plays a 5.0 octave Artist classic marimba.

A most promising newcomer, Jasmin Kolberg has rapidly established herself as a marimbist in the international concert scene. Her musical sensitivity, expressive phrasing and technical brilliance make each concert a lasting experience.

Born into a musical family in 1974 in Stuttgart (Germany), she began at the age of seven to play piano, violin and percussion. As a percussionist she earned first prizes in "Young Musicians" competitions from early on.

In 1994 she began her percussion studies with Prof. Klaus Tresselt at the "Hochschule fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst" in Stuttgart, and was accepted into the soloist class in the year 2000. From 1999 to 2001 she studied at the "Conservatoire Superieur de Paris" in the marimba-solo-classes of Professors Eric Sammut and Frederic Macarez.

Since 1996, she has been working with the marimba virtuoso Leigh Howard Stevens in New York, and with the famous solo percussionist Robyn Schulkowsky in Berlin. She also participated in numerous master-classes with Gordon Stout and Michael Burritt (USA) and Keiko Abe (Japan).

Jasmin Kolberg was awarded the 3rd prize in the "2nd World Marimba Competition" in Okaya, Japan in 1999. She was the winner of the "Yamaha Competition 2001" and was granted a scholarship from the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe. Interested in expanding the repertoire for the marimba, she composes music for her instrument. In addition to her teaching activities, she performs regulary in diverse chamber music constellations, including her own ensemble, and the Percussion Ensemble Stuttgart. She has recorded often for the german radio. (Last Modified 2001.5.6)

Alex Jacobowitz was born in New York in 1960, and studied with Gordon Stout, L.H. Stevens and John Beck. He currently resides in Europe, where he performs marimba solo, primarily works of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart.
In recent years, Alex Jacobowitz has played solo on German, Swiss, Israeli and Portuguese and Hungarian television and radio, and sold 50,000 recordings throughout Europe. His newest CD, "The Art of Xylos" (Arte Nova, BMG distribution) is a collection of highest-quality transcriptions, and is to be released worldwide on February 4, 2002. Although in 2001 he has performed the solo part to Rodrigo's Concerto de Aranjuez and Vivaldi's Four Seasons with orchestra, he prefers to play unaccompanied.
His book,"A Classical Klezmer: Travel Stories of a Jewish Musician" (1998) sold out its first edition and is now in preparation for the second edition.
1981 - Won the Drum Corps International Competition for Solo Keyboard in Montreal, then premiered Edith Borroff's Concerto for Marimba and Small Orchestra.
In 1982-3, he played percussion with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, then decided to abandon percussion for solo marimba.
1984 - Two solo concerts at Lincoln Center
1986-91 - Official Street Performer at the South Street Seaport in New York City.
1991- 2001 Street performances & TV, radio broadcasts throughout Europe and Israel.
1998 - Autobiography published in German (A Classical Klezmer), 50,000 recordings sold
2001 - Performed Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Rodrigo's Concerto de Aranjuez with orchestra, Record contract with Arte Nova, a classical label within BMG
(Added 1999.2.6, Modified 2002.2.16)