Chin Cheng Lin is known as the first marimba student at the renowned Royal Conservatorium Antwerp, where he graduated his master degree with the highest distinctions. He gained international recognition by winning the third prize at the prestigious International Marimba Competition Belgium. Praised for his outstanding musicality and remarkable presentation at the age of 19, he also received the Young Talent Prize. Successfully, Lin made his Belgian debut at the ?Proloog? of Hogeschool Antwerp and his international debut at the International Percussion Festival Valencia, Spain.

Lin also won numerous prizes at international music competitions such as: the 1st Prize at the European Soloist Competition in Birmingham, the 3rd Prize at the International Contemporary Chamber Music Competition in Poland, the 1st Prize marimba solo at the Australian Percussion Eisteddfod in Sydney, the 1st Prize marimba duo at the Australian Percussion Eisteddfod in Canberra, the talent prize at the Universal Marimba Duo Competition and others.

Lin has presented young talent recitals in more than 20 countries. He is active in many international percussion festivals and European percussion days and he has taught at several music academies and universities. Lin released his debut album ?Silk Road? and participated as a guest in several concert- and CD productions.

Intensively collaborating with the Taipei Representative Office in Belgium and Europe, Lin received a ?Culture Outstanding Award? for promoting the Taiwanese arts and he had the honor to perform for the Belgian Royal Family. Aside marimba playing, he has composed works for marimba and two music books for young performers. Lin won the 1st Prize at the Classical Marimba League International Composition Competition and the Originality Prize at the Universal Marimba Competition. His latest marimba concerto ?One World, One Dream, One Love? & his marimba concertino ?Stone Cave? will be premi?red in 2009.

As a Native Taiwanese percussionist, Lin started to play the piano at the age of 6, and he has studied violin, guitar and saxophone. He studied percussion with Huang Kun-Yan, Guo Guang-Yuan, Gary France, Vanessa Tomlinson, Kevin Man, Eric Sammut, Leo Ouderits and he specialized on marimba with the Belgian marimba virtuoso Ludwig Albert.

Nowadays, Chin Cheng Lin is an endorser of Adams marimba and Resta mallets.

Thomas Alexander is currently one of the only British players giving regular full length solo marimba recitals, and is also the Musical Director of the chamber music group Melange. Thomas studied at the Royal Northern College of Music (UK), Rotterdam Conservatorium & the Sweelinck Conservatorium (Netherlands), and his teachers have included Ian Wright, Graham Johns, Robert Van Sice & Peter Prommel. He has given masterclasses at a number of institutions including the RNCM, Welsh College of Music & Drama, and the prestigious Chethams School.

As a chamber musician Thomas has worked with a wide variety of musicians from the solo trombonist Christian Lindberg, to the Super Tramp saxophone player John Anthony Helliwell. He has performed full recitals in Britain, USA, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy & Mexico. He has premiered over 30 solo & chamber works for marimba.

A new website will be up soon, which will include some free downloads of complete classic marimba works... A resource which may be of interest to college students.

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.

Dr. Thom Hasenpflug is nationally recognized as a unique performer and educational voice, while his compositions for percussion receive international recognition and are played all over the world. Currently the Director of Percussion Studies (Associate Professor of Music) at Idaho State University , he has held prior teaching posts at Drake University, the University of South Dakota, Emporia State University, and the Tennessee Governor's School for the Arts.

Dr. Hasenpflug has presented performances, clinics and masterclasses at many universities, high schools, and festivals, for several Percussive Arts Society chapter Days of Percussion, and at the 2005 PAS International Convention. As a composer, he has been commissioned by some of the field

Momoko KAMIYA is a graduate of Juliard Music School and the winner of the 1995 Luxemburg International Percussion Competition, Marimba section.
Since 1990, she is giving the recital series "Kamiya Momoko Marimba Recital - Oto * Sorekara (Sound - and then...)". She has also played with Yomiuri Nihon Symphony Orchestra, Nagoya Philharmony Orchestra, etc. Has appeard in such programs like "NHK FM Recital", "Best of Classics (NHK FM)" etc. Her CD includes "Childrens of Dyonisis (Dyonisia)", "Marimba Coctail (Phillips)", "Arabesque (Phillips)". She is currently actively playing mainly as solo marimbist.
Apart from giving performances, she also teaches at Senzoku Gakuen University, Okinawa Kenritsu Geijutsu University, Aichi Kenritsu Geijutsu University. (Last Modified 1998.5.6)

Preliminary round is a CD submission. Deadline is March 2, 2009. You will need to send a recording of one movement from Bach Cello Suite or Violin Sonata and Partitas and your choice from the required marimba repertoire list from the site.

Pius Cheung, as quoted by the legendary pianist Gary Graffman as "remarkably gifted ... elegant and virtuosic music-making", is a young rising marimba artist and composer. Pius' repertoire features largely compositions by himself, and arrangements of music by Bach and Chopin. Since age 10, he has appeared as a marimba soloist around the world including Canada, the United States, Russia, China, Australia, Holland and Mexico. Pius made his U. S. concerto debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2003 at the Kimmel Center, and has appeared as a concerto soloist during the World Music Forum 1999 in Russia.

Recent performances include a concerto appearance with the British Columbia Chamber Orchestra performing Bach's Keyboard Concerto in d minor, BWV 1052, as well as concerts and masterclasses at the V Festival Internacional de Marimbistas in Mexico, and Zeltsman Marimba Festival 2005 and 2006, Amsterdam Conservatory, University of Michigan, Boston Conservatory and Boston University.

In 2006, Pius released his debut album of Bach's Complete Goldberg Variations, arranged for solo marimba by himself. The CD is currently on sale at Amazon, Steve Weiss Music, Brant Percussion, iTunes, Rhapsody.com and his own Pius Cheung Online Music Store.

As a composer, Pius has written numerous works for the marimba, including a set of five Musical Moments (Lust, Storm, Solitude, Dance of the Golden Mean, and Romance) for solo marimba, Marimba Concerto with String Orchestra, Sonata No. 1 "Vitanata", Etude in e minor, and Ballade for Eriko Daimo. His music is published by the Connecticut Hills Music Publishing Company and MPC Music Publishing.

Pius is a Yamaha Performing Artist and Vic Firth endorser. He received his Bachelor of Music from the Curtis Institute of Music, and his Artist Diploma from The Boston Conservatory.

For more information including full bio, repertoire, CD sound clips and upcoming performances, please visit www.piuscheung.com

My name is Steve Barnett I run a percussion web site called Elite percussion

Our aim is to bring all aspects of percussion playing to a place that is accessible to all.

If you have any relevant news that might be of interest to us readers, may be you would like to write an article or reply to some questions on percussion that gets asked. There is also a section for player profiles, which when fully operational will be set into different areas to make it easier to find someone. The web address is www.elitepercussion.com

Thank you for your time in reading this. If you have any suggestions please do not hesitate to get in contact.

Steve

The official website of composer/percussionist Christopher Swist. This site contains a comprehensive music page with audio examples, programs notes and links to publishers. Swist's compositions are performed worldwide and published through Marimba Productions in the U.S. and Edition Svitzer in Europe. Christopher is currently teaching composition, percussion and music theory at Keene State College in New Hampshire.

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)