Conservatory Percussion Department Prepares for Life After a Legend

Oberlin Conservatory’s Percussion Department will undergo a generational transition in the coming year as Michael Rosen—a renowned educator and 2019 inductee into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame—concludes his 50-year teaching career at the end of the spring semester in May.

Beginning in the fall, noted teacher and performer Pablo Rieppi will serve a one-year term as Visiting Associate Professor of Percussion. The conservatory will begin an extensive search for a permanent appointment in August.

Rieppi is a member of the faculty of the Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division, where he coordinates the percussion program, teaches private lessons, presents master classes, and codirects the percussion ensemble. A full-time member of the New York City Ballet Orchestra and a regular performer with the New York Philharmonic and on Broadway, Rieppi has appeared in master classes across the U.S. and around the world, and has served as a teaching artist with Carnegie Hall, the New York Philharmonic, and the American Composers Orchestra.

“We have reached a bittersweet moment for all of us at Oberlin as we prepare to bid farewell to a dear friend and true icon in the conservatory, Michael Rosen,” says Professor of Clarinet Richard Hawkins, director of the Division of Woodwinds, Brass, and Percussion. “In the coming months, we look forward to honoring Michael’s remarkable career and wishing him all the best in retirement.

“At the same time, we are tremendously fortunate to welcome Pablo Rieppi to campus. He is a performer and educator of the highest order, and he will be an ideal mentor to our percussion students at this time of inevitable transition.”