The Shepherd School of Music has one of the country’s most active and productive percussion studios. Carefully selected from both graduate and undergraduate applicants, this intense group of students works under the full-time guidance of its director, Matthew Strauss. Members of this group have consistently won places in every major summer festival, most recently Tanglewood, the National Repertory Orchestra, the National Orchestral Institute, the Pacific Music Festival, and the Spoleto Festival.
Professionally, former students are performing with symphonies in Vancouver, Honolulu, Puerto Rico, and Detroit, as well as with the U.S. Marine Band. Current students are frequently engaged by the Houston Symphony Orchestra as extra players.
Private lessons and percussion classes provide concentrated teacher/student interaction, while other opportunities, such as ensemble concerts, solo recitals, opera and symphony performances, new music forums, and master classes, enable members of the studio to accumulate a terrific amount of performance time during their years at the Shepherd School.
Faculty
Matthew Strauss , Associate Professor of Percussion