David Skidmore

http://www.davidskidmorepercussion.com/

David Skidmore is active as both a performer and composer of percussion music. David is a founding member of the Third Coast Percussion Quartet, the Lucerne Festival Percussion Group, and the Collide Trio, and has premiered over a dozen new works with these groups over the past two years alone. He was also recently appointed as solo percussionist with the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. Solo performances include appearances with the Pacific Soundings series in Sapporo , Japan , the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland , and the Chicago Civic Orchestra LaSalle Bank Chamber Music Series. David has performed as a member of the Lucerne Festival Academy , the Pacific Music Festival, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the National Repertory Orchestra and the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, and he has also performed with the New World Symphony and the Breckenridge Music Institute. He has played under such conductors as Pierre Boulez, Valery Gergiev, Lorin Maazel, David Robertson, and Michael Tilson Thomas.

David's original works for percussion are performed regularly in concert halls and universities across the country. In May of 2007 his latest piece, “Unknown Kind”, was premiered in Carnegie Hall by Dr. John Parks and the Florida State University Percussion Ensemble. He has received commissions from David Herbert (San Francisco Symphony), Dr. John Parks, the Spindrift Percussion Quartet, and Peter Martin. He was awarded 1st prize in the 2005 Percussive Arts Society Composition Contest and 2nd prize in the 2004 contest. His piece “Whispers – for 9 Percussionists” was a finalist for an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award in 2005, and has been recorded by the Northwestern University Percussion Ensemble.

Peter Martin

http://www.newmarimba.com/

Peter Martin has concertized as a percussion soloist and chamber musician across the globe. He has been a featured artist at the Jeju Summer Music Festival of Korea, the Leigh Howard Stevens Summer Marimba Seminar, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the CJYPE Concert Series, the Long Island Day of Percussion, and the Kansas Day of Percussion. Peter is also on high demand as a guest clinician and performer at music schools worldwide. Recent appearances have included those at Seoul National University, Bryn Mawr University, St. Cloud State University, Colorado State University, and Iowa State University. Peter Martin has enjoyed competition success as the first prize winner at the 2003 Percussive Arts Society International Marimba Competition. Since 2004, Peter has been an artist/ endorser for Kp3/Malletech Co., making him the youngest artist on their roster. As an ensemble musician, Peter has performed with the Scandinavian Chamber Orchestra, the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra, the Longmount Symphony Orchestra, the Monmouth Symphony Orchestra, the Stampede Group Inc., the Summitt Theatre Group, and the Exit 9 percussion group and is an active freelance performer and educator in the Chicago area. Peter Martin holds a Masters in Percussion Performance from Northwestern University where he is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Music Degree. His teachers include world renowned percussion soloist Michael Burritt, She-e Wu, and marimba virtuoso Leigh Howard Stevens.

Robert Dillon

Robert Dillon is a founding member of the Third Coast Percussion Quartet, a dedicated teacher, and an active performer of orchestral and contemporary music in the Chicago area. For the 2007-08 season, he is serving as principal percussionist for the Madison Symphony Orchestra, and he has previously performed as a substitute with the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras. From 2004 to 2006, Robert was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony, and he has also performed with the Ft Wayne and Illinois Philharmonics, and the Elgin, Northwest Indiana, Rockford and Southwest Michigan Symphonies.

Equally active in the field of contemporary music, Robert has appeared numerous times on the Chicago Symphony's contemporary music series, MusicNOW, performed with Ensemble Noamnesia, and in April of 2007 gave the American premiere of the solo version of Christopher Adler's “Signals Intelligence.” He was a member of the Lucerne Festival Academy, in Lucerne, Switzerland, led by Pierre Boulez and members of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, during the ‘Preview Academy' in 2003 and the first two years of the Academy in 2004 and 2005, and in 2007, he returned as a member of the Lucerne Festival Percussion Group.

Robert has been a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and a member of the Spoleto Festival USA, National Repertory Orchestra, Chautauqua Summer Music Festival and Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan. Robert holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and a Master of Music from New England Conservatory, where he received the John Cage Award for Outstanding Contribution to Contemporary Music Performance for his work in organizing and coaching a complete performance of Steve Reich's “Drumming.” His teachers include Michael Burritt, James Ross and Will Hudgins.

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