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.

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

Hiroshi Chu Okubo is Percussionist and Composer, also He is the first MIBURI (Virtual MIDI Body Percussion) Player in the US. He Presented over 200 concert at USA, China and Japan.He is Director of HCO Music Factory Group. He has own Percussion Trio "OKOMOCHI" (updated 1997.11.18)

A graduage of Kunitachi Colledge of Music. Member of the Okada Tokoyuki Percussion Ensemble and the Ensemble Mallet. (Updated Feb. 16, 2002)

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)

Mr. Nakura is a visiting consultant for Percussion Studies and frequent recitalist at the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts, and he has also given recitals and master classes at the Royal Academy of Music in London, here he has performed as soloist with the Academy's Percussion Ensemble. Since 1992, Mr. Nakura has been the youngest member of Percussion Group '72, Japan's most prestigious percussion ensemble. He was awarded the 1987 NHK Prize for Classical Music and the 1990 Japanese Musician's Union Prize, which presented him as soloist with the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra.
Graduate of Tokyo's Musashino College (1988). [Exerpt from Young Concert Artists Bio] (added 1997.11.16)

Takako Nagano started taking piano lessons at the age of five.
She was accepted as a piano major at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
An accidental meeting with Robert Rosen, Professor of Percussion made up her mind to shift into the world of percussion, especially marimba which she can show her forte and can use her pianistic background.
Upon graduation from UW, she decided to perform exclusively on the marimba.
She continued further marimba studies with Professor Doug Walter at the University of Colorado where she received the prestigious Vice Chancellor's Award for her musical excellence. She holds BA degree in Piano and Percussion from the University of Wisconsin and MM degree in Percussion performance (Marimba Emphasis) from the University of Colorado. She currently resides in Kyoto, Japan where she actively gives solo marimba recitals, lessons and masterclasses. (Added Feb. 16, 2002)

Katarzyna Mycka was born in Leningrad, started playing percussion at the age of 16. Fascinated by the weath of different sounds, she began working intensively on the wide ranging percussion instrumentarium and its often very difficult repertoire. As soon as three years later the young musician had her first success - 1st prize in the Polish Percussion Competition in Opole. In the following year she was awarded a special prize as youngest participant at the Concours International d

William Moersch is an Assistant Professor of Percussion (1998) and Chair of the Percussion Division
B.M. (with High Distinction) and M.M. (percussion performance), University of Michigan.wmoersch@uiuc.edu

William Moersch is internationally renowned as a marimba virtuoso, chamber and symphonic percussionist, recording artist, and educator. He has appeared as soloist with symphonic orchestras and in recital throughout North and South America, Europe, the Far East, and Australia. One of twelve international marimbists featured at the World Marimba Festival in Osaka, Japan in 1998, he is perhaps best known for his solo compact disc, The Modern Marimba, and for commissioning over the past twenty years virtually the entire prominent modern American repertoire for solo marimba. Recently appointed Assistant Professor and Chair of the Percussion Division at the University of Illinois, Mr. Moersch also created the graduate degree programs in marimba performance at the Peabody Conservatory and Rutgers University and has presented master classes throughout the world. A graduate of the University of Michigan, where he was a scholarship student of Charles Owen, Mr. Moersch was a free-lance percussionist in New York for over twenty years. He has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, New York City Ballet, New Jersey Symphony, American Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and as a featured soloist on numerous motion picture soundtracks. Currently, he is Principal Timpanist and Percussionist of Sinfonia da Camera and Principal Percussionist of the Bard Music Festival.
(Added 1997.6.12, Updated 1998.6.21, Update 1998.10.24, Updated 1999.01.10, Updated 2002.08.15)