PERCUSSION

LAURA JORDAN
Ph.D. (ABD), The Steinhardt School - New York University; M.M., B.M., Peabody Conservatory. Studied with Jonathan Haas, Robert van Sice, John R. Beck, Jon Metzger, Svetoslav Stoyanov, Nancy Zeltsman and Simon Boyer. Currently on the faculties of the L.I. Music Conservatory and the Bronx Conservatory of Music, as Founder/Director and educator at Washington Heights Percussion, and has served as adjunct professor at NYU. Has performed in Europe, Canada, Mexico and throughout the U.S., in venues including Merkin Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Skirball Center of Los Angeles, the National Geographic in Washington, and the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. Has been featured as a touring and recording world percussion artist and chamber musician with credits including the NY Guitar Quartet, Ensemble Galilei, and the Western premiere of Menachem Zur’s Translations for Percussion and Electronics, and work as a guest artist with Axiom Percussion. As a rock drummer, toured Europe with the experimental rock group Scary River (Morpheus Records). Ensembles include the Garden State Philharmonic, Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, NYU Percussion Ensemble. Performs regularly with theater company Literally Alive, the off-Broadway show Percussion People, and with the troupe Huxley Vertical Cabaret Nouveau. Participated in several festivals including the Paris Marimba Competition and Perkumania festival and the first Zeltsman “Princeton” Marimba festival. Recordings include Laura Jordan, New Solo Music for Marimba, Menachem Zur’s Translations for Percussion and Electronics, and Ensemble Galilei’s Alta.

SCOTT W. SIMPSON
M.M., The Juilliard School; B.M., Hartt School of Music. Director of the NJ Youth Symphony Percussion Ensemble. Current faculty member Bergen Community College, William Paterson University, Juilliard Music Advancement Program, Music Outreach. Former faculty member, St. Thomas Aquinas College, Montclair State University, St. David’s School. Performed with such notables as Leonard Bernstein, Itzhak Perlman, Zubin Mehta, Andre Watts and Sal Mosca. Orchestral credits include the American Symphony Orchestra, New York City Opera, Grand National Opera, New York Grand Opera, Korean Ballet-Lincoln Center, Canadian Brass, Musica Viva, New Philharmonic of NJ, Frank Sinatra Jr., Westchester Symphony Orchestra and Aspen Symphony Orchestra. Broadway shows include Cats, Les Miserables, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, Radio City Music Hall Christmas Show and Hercules; as well as Paper Mill Playhouse productions of Annie, A Chorus Line, The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan and Singing in the Rain. Other credits include the U.S. National Tour of Starlight Express, and the Aspen and Waterloo Music Festivals.