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)

Born in Tokyo in 1975, Shinsuke Ishihara started to study music at age of four. In 1998, he graduated Toho Music University with the first prize. In 1999, Ishihara won the first prize in the All Japan Solist Competition, Marimba division. Also, he received "Grootste onderscheiding" from Belgium Royal Music Antwerpen Conservatorium.

Since then, he has been giving numerous concerts, and recordings. He appears in "Marimba Dancing", which is going to be released in March 2000. In April 2000, he will do recording with Momoko Kamiya and Ludwig Albert . Apart from his solo activigy, he has formed a duo with Ludwig Albert in 1999.

Ishihara studied marimba with Keiko Abe, Momoko Kamiya, Mutuko Fujii, Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic, Katrina Mycka,Gordon Stout, Ludwig Albert, and percussion with Kyouiti Sano,Leo Oudrits,Koen Willmash, and the Vibraphone with Carlo Williams.

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)

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.

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)

Born in 1943 and raised in Indiana, Gary Burton taught himself to play the vibraphone and, at the age of 17, made his recording debut in Nashville, Tennessee, with guitarists Hank Garland and Chet Atkins. Two years later, Burton left his studies at Berklee College of Music to join George Shearing and subsequently Stan Getz, with whom he worked from 1964-1966.

As a member of Getz's quartet, Burton won Down Beat magazine's Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition award in 1965. By the time he left Getz to form his own quartet in 1967, Burton had also recorded three albums under his name for RCA. Borrowing rhythms and sonorities from rock music, while maintaining jazz's emphasis on improvisation and harmonic complexity, Burton's first quartet attracted large audiences from both sides of the jazz-rock spectrum. Such albums as Duster and Lofty Fake Anagram established Burton and his band as progenitors of the jazz fusion phenomenon. Burton's burgeoning popularity was quickly validated by Down Beat magazine, which awarded him its Jazzman of the Year award in 1968. During his subsequent association with the label (1973-1988) the Burton Quartet expanded to include the young Pat Metheny on guitar, and the band began to explore a repertoire of modern compositions. In the '70s, Burton also began to focus on more intimate contexts for his music. His 1971 album Alone at Last, a solo vibraphone concert recorded at the 1971 Montreux Jazz Festival, was honored with a Grammy Award. Burton also turned to the rarely heard duo format, recording with bassist Steve Swallow, guitarist Ralph Towner, and most notably with pianist Chick Corea, thus cementing a long personal and professional relationship that has garnered an additional two Grammy Awards.

Also in the '70s, Burton began his career with Berklee College of Music in Boston. Burton began as a teacher of percussion and improvisation classes at Berklee in 1971. In 1985 he was named Dean of Curriculum. In 1989, he received an honorary doctorate of music from the college, and in 1996, he was appointed Executive Vice President.

Burton began recording for GRP records in the '80s and '90s. In 1990, he paired up again with his former prot馮・Metheny for Reunion, which landed him the top spot on Billboard magazine's jazz chart. Burton is now recording for Concord Records. Departure (Gary Burton & Friends) was released in 1997 by Concord Records as well as Native Sense , a new duet collaboration with Chick Corea, which garnered a Grammy Award in 1998. Also in 1997, Burton recorded his second collection of tango music, Astor Piazzolla Reunion, featuring the top tango musicians of Argentina, followed by this year's Libertango, another collection of Piazzolla music. His 1998 Concord release, Like Minds, an all-star hit featuring his frequent collaborators Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Roy Haynes, and Dave Holland, was honored with a Grammy, Burton's fifth. Gary's vibraphone tribute CD, For Hamp, Red, Bags and Cal, will be released in March 2001 on Concord.

For 2001, Gary Burton plans to continue his dual careers as premier jazz vibraphonist and college vice president, performing concerts in South America, Europe, Asia, and the United States, and working closely with Berklee's college community.

Pedro Carneiro is one of the very few percussion players to have made an
international career as a soloist, and has established himself as one of the
world's foremost solo percussionists, performing regularly throughout
Europe, the Far East, and the USA.

Although still in his mid-twenties, Pedro Carneiro's artistry is well known
to audiences throughout the globe. His highly acclaimed performances include
appearances with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, London Mozart Players,
Portuguese Symphony, Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, Orquestra Sinfonica
do Estado de Sao Paulo, Tampere Philharmonic, Gavle Symphony Orchestra and
the Estonian National Symphony, to name but a few.

A frequent recitalist and chamber musician, he has also appeared at
important venues and festivals, such as Chicago's Grant Park Festival,
London's Queen Elizabeth Hall and BBC Proms, Capital Theatre in Beijing and
the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts, performing with artists
such as the Chilingirian Quartet and Elisabeth Chojnacka.

His website can be found on the internet at www.pedrocarneiro.com.

(Added 1999.6.22, Updated 2001.1.4, Updated 2003.7.19)

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)

Born 1978, Mr. Condon is a graduate of the New England Conservatory in Boston where he studied with marimba artist Nancy Zeltzman, and Boston Symphony Percussionists Frank Epstein and Will Hudgins. He won the 1999 NEC solo concerto competition and performed the Paul Creston Concertino with the NEC Symphony Orchestra. He is also a recipient of the Louisville Orchestra's Young Artist Soloist Prize. Currently, he is attending a Master's program at Northwestern University while studying with Michael Burritt and Chicago Symphony member James Ross. (Added 2001.7.7)