Andy Hanrsberger completed his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Performance and Literature at The Eastman School of Music, where he also received the prestigious Performer's Certificate. He has presented numerous recitals and clinics throughout the United States. A member of the marimba duo PARAGON with partner Greg Giannascoli. Director of Percussion studies at Lee University in Cleveland, TN. Dr. Harnsberger is a performing artist and clinician for the Pearl Corporation and performs on an Adams Artist Series marimba exclusively. He is also an artist/endorser for Innovative Percussion mallet company. Website: members.aol.com:/ahparagon (Added 1999.2.6)

Orlando Cotto is the first percussionist to receive the Artist Diploma in the 100-year history at Peabody Conservatory of Music. He has made solo marimba appearances in Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and throughout the U.S. As a percussionist, he has performed with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Puerto Rico Symphony and the Festival Casals Symphony Orchestra. He is a Visiting Artist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Arts Excel program and an artist with Barry Dove Global Percussion Trio. Additionally, Cotto teaches percussion at Morgan State University, Loyola College and The Music School of New Shiloh Baptist Church in Baltimore. Cotto's first recording of Latin American music for the concert marimba features violinist Jos・Cueto, percussionist Giovanni Hidalgo and flutist Alison Potter.

Gergely Nagy, Yamaha marimba artist, was born in 1974, in Miskolc, Hungary, as a third child of a musician couple. He started his percussion studies at the age of 14 with an excellent Polish teacher, in Thessaloniki, Greece.

He graduated in the Music College in Karlsruhe and in the Music Academy in Stuttgart. He specialized to marimba in those years. In 2000 for the invitation of Prof. Abe Keiko, world famous marimba artist, he spent 1 year in Tokyo as a scholar. Today he is teacher in the Music School of Stuttgart.

Gergely Nagy has concerts regularly in European countries (France, Germany, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary) and his name is known in Egypt and Japan as well. (Added 2004.9.5)

Rich Dart is currently a freelance percussionist living on the southernConnecticut shore. He performs solo marimba recitals on a regularbasis. He is a graduate from Keene State College in New Hampsire where he studied under Bill Hanley and John Kelley. He has also studied under Ernest Centoscudi, David Smith, and Al Lepak. He is currently studying with reknowned marimbist, Nancy Zeltsman. He has given masterclasses throughout the state of Connecticut. He is currently performing as part of the critically acclaimed duo, Anne Donohue and Rich Dart as well as performing with the Meridan Symphony and Wallingford Symphony where he served as principal percussionist. Rich is also known for performing with many pop, rock, and jazz groups. He currently teaches at his home studio in Clinton, Connecticut, as well as many area schools. (Added 1999.4.11)

Check out her web site to see all the current informatin about this famous percussionist. She is a pupil of Keiko Abe.

Dr. Stephen Crawford is a marimba performer and conductor in Texas. He is the Director of Bands and Percussion Studies at University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, TX. He holds degrees from Minot State University (ND), University of Northern Iowa, and the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music. He has studied marimba with Mike Blake, Randy Hogancamp and Laurence Kaptain and has taken masterclasses with Leigh Howard Stevens and Dave Samuels.

Along with his marimba performance, Crawford is the principal percussionist with the Temple Symphony Orchestra, and music director/founder of the Ritmo y Mas Percussion Group. Crawford is in constant demand as percussion performer, clinician, and guest conductor having performed throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Ireland. He is a recipient of a Texas Percussive Arts Society Performance Grant and is the host of the Central Texas Percussion Festival held annually in February. Dr. Crawford represents the Ross Mallet Instrument Company as performing artist and clinician, and is the author of "Building a Better Percussion Section: Methods and Motivation" (published by Ross/Jupiter Education Services) and has appeared as a clinician at the Kentucky MEA, the South Carolina MEA, the North Dakota Day of Percussion, and the Concordia University Day of Percussion in Nebraska. His marimba compositions are available through HoneyRock Publishing.
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Dr. Stephen Crawford
Director of Bands & Percussion Studies
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
900 College St. Box 8012 Belton, TX 76513
Ph: 254.295.4618 Email: scrawford@umhb.edu
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(Modified 2001.7.7)

Greg Giannascoli was top prize winner of the 1997 Patrons of Wisdom international young artist competition held in Toronto, Canada. He has also won a grant for a custom marimba from the Philadelphia Music Foundation, the National Music Teachers Competition, the Montpeliar Cultural Arts Society Recital Competition, and others. Greg has studied with William Moersch, Dean Witten, Donald Bick, and Leigh Stevens. He has also had coachings with Gordon Stout, Nancy Zeltsman, and Machiko Takahashi. Greg performs exclusively on the Yamaha 6000 and uses Innovative Percussion Mallets. He represents the Percussion Marketing Council, which supplies matching funds for his educational appearances. He is a faculty member at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ. Reviews of Greg's performances include: "Here was music played so well it would capture and hold anybody's attention indefinitely."-Classical New Jersey, "With great mastery and two mallets in each hand Giannascoli gave a true lesson with what can be done with that singular instrument."-The National of Mexico City, Reviews of his first CD 'Concertino' : "...elegantly phrased and sensitively performed...sails confidently through the most challenging technical passages."-Percussive Notes. Greg's second CD 'Velocities' will be out summer 1999. (Added 1999.6.21)

Mike HAMNET is a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.UK,Mike's career has covered pretty much every musical base possible.From world premieres of several concerti,most notably Paul Mitchell-Diavidson's "Aficana" broadcast on national television,to free-wheeling jazz and salsa,via many West End shows (Pirates of Penzance mallets chair,Lion King African and mallets,and assistant conductor,amongst others) and contemporary and orchestral concerts and recordings with,amongst others,the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra,BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra,Halle Orchestra and the Manchester Camerata,Mike's virtuosic musicality always brings a smile to the listener. Currently working on Disney's production of the Lion King in London,future plans include recording a new album of original compositions with his new group "Project One",followed by a tour around Europe in summer 2003. Mike can be contacted at:mikeymd@btinternet.com (Added 2002.8.31)

Mark Ford is the coordinator of percussion activities at The University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. A marimba specialist, Ford has premiered a variety of new works for solo marimba and regularly performs concerts and clinics around the country. He has been a featured performer/clinician at music conventions such as the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, The College Band Director's National Conference, the National MENC Convention, the Mid-West Band Directors Conference and Brazil's International Music Festival. Mark's latest CD, Motion Beyond, was released by AUR in November of 2001 featuring David Maslanka's Variations on Lost Love, Daniel McCarthy's Chamber Symphony No. 1 for Marimba and Winds, Lynn Glassock's Off Axis, as well as his own compositions Afta-Stuba! and Motion Beyond. Percussive Notes CD review of Motion Beyond stated that "Ford's stylistic interpretation is unquestionably among the world's finest solo musicians." His first marimba solo compact disc in 1996, Polaris, received excellent reviews from music publications including The Instrumentalist which stated Ford's performance is "superb and Ford's compositional style is equally outstanding." Other CDs by Mark Ford include Athletic Conveyances: Music for Tuba and Percussion, with Jeff Jarvis.

As a composer Mark Ford has written several popular works for solo marimba and percussion ensemble including Head Talk, Polaris, Motion Beyond, Stubernic, Afta-Stuba!, One-Eyed Jacks, and Standup Shadow. His compositions have been performed at universities and concert halls throughout the world including the Taipei International Percussion Convention, The Eastman School of Music and PAS International Conventions.

Mark serves on the Executive Board of the Percussive Arts Society as president-elect. An author of numerous percussion pedagogy articles, Ford served ten years as associate editor for the PAS publication, Percussive Notes. Mark Ford represents the Pearl Corporation of America, The Zildjian Company and Innovative Percussion as performing artist and clinician.
(Added 1998.12.31,modified 2002.3.3)

Mutsuko Fujii, a percusionist, a marimbist, and a Sanukite player (Sanukaite is a marimba like instrument made of a type of stone called Sanukite), graduated Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku in 1970 and since then, she has been actively playing as a percussionist as well as a solo and duo marimba player. Her duo group (Fujii/Kikuchi Duo : Kikuchi=Tomoko Kusakari) commisioned over 40 peices of works, and is slated to have created "new sound" for the marimba duo. Since 1985, her solo activity gained momentum and this resulted in premiering many well known pieces like Keiko Abe's Prism Rhapsody. Naturally, she appeared in TV and Radio many times. She is also a composer and many works are published.

On the academic side, she teaches at Senzoku Gakuen University.

She also spend a lot of effort for music education of children, and is the Chiar of All Japan Children's Education League.(Added 1999.7.12)