Hometown: Marietta, GA
Major: Percussion Performance
Class: 2012
Originally from the town of Southington, Connecticut, Kevin started playing percussion in fourth grade. He moved to Marietta, Georgia, and while in high school, he became a student of Tom Sherwood (Atlanta Symphony Orchestra), and Bill Wilder (Atlanta Symphony Orchestra). With the Lassiter High School Percussion Ensemble, under the direction of Mike Lynch and Scott Brown, he traveled to Chicago to the Midwest Clinic where he performed with Michael Burritt (Eastman School of Music) and Tim Adams (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra), and later performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention 2007 and the Georgia Music Educators Association Convention 2008. In the summers of 2003 and 2006 he attended The Atlanta Percussion Seminar, hosted by Mark Yancich (Atlanta Symphony Orchestra), and in the summer of 2007 Kevin attended the Juilliard Summer Percussion Seminar at the Juilliard School in New York City, which was under the direction of Joseph Gramley (University of Michigan). Kevin has also studied under Allen Otte (University of Cincinnati), Daniel Druckman (Juilliard), John Parks (Florida State University) and Michael Udow (University of Michigan), all of who have given great insight in the performance of music and percussion. Kevin currently studies with Michael Rosen at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and is excited to gain a vast knowledge of both classical and contemporary percussion repertoire.
A side-note on Oberlin- I chose Oberlin because I knew I needed a teacher that would interact with me well and also get me excited about discovering more about percussion- this is exactly what you get with Mr. Rosen. Also, there are so many opportunities to play great music and great parts even as a freshman because of the small studio size and undergraduate setting.