Joey Eng is an Australian percussionist, composer and educator. As a soloist, Joey was the winner of the 2022 Warana Concerto Competition, the 2022 Luigi Paolino Award, and a finalist in both the inaugural 2019 and 2021 Marimbafest solo marimba competitions. A multi-skilled percussionist and collaborator, he has performed with many orchestras across Australia including the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, Perth Symphony Orchestra, Australian Baroque, Australian Youth Orchestra, and the Vienna Pops Orchestra. As a composer, he has scored and performed in live theatre productions including ‘The Hope Fault’ and Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’. Joey is also an adept arranger, and his arrangements of contemporary songs have been performed by the Perth Symphony Orchestra, the WAAPA Symphony Orchestra and Defying Gravity. Joey regularly premieres orchestral, solo and chamber works through his Youtube channel - works that have since been performed by percussionists around the world.
Joey completed his Bachelor of Music from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, receiving the 2022 WAAPA Medal as the top graduate of the entire school. Joey is endorsed by Marimba One (USA) as a Premier Artist and his pieces are published by Edition Svitzer (Denmark).
Hyunwoo Kim - South Korea
Hyunwoo Kim is an accomplished percussionist, adept at performing a wide range of repertoire across genres. He achieved 2nd place in the multi-percussion category at the 2024 Percussion Showcase, organized by Black Swamp, and won 1st place in both the percussion and non-percussion chamber music categories at the 2022 Web Contest hosted by Italy Percussive Arts Society. He has also performed as a soloist with the Jeju Philharmonic Orchestra.
Hyunwoo Kim thrives on new challenges, frequently collaborating with contemporary composers such as YoungJun Lee, Heather Hyoeun Ahn, Jiye Noh, Yeeun Sim, Max Eidinoff, Sebastian Suarez-Solis, and Heng Lin, premiering and recording their works. He was an active member of the Oldbay New Music Ensemble during its 2022-2024 season and joined SYGZY for 2024-2026 Seasons. He has performed with Gamin who renowned Korean traditional musician.
He completed the Bachelor of Music studying with Robert van Sice, Jisu Jung, Jeff Stern, Matt Keown and Eric Shin at Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the Meadows School of Arts at Southern Methodist University, studying under George Nickson.
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Josue Berrocal - Costa Rica
Josué Berrocal is a renowned percussionist and percussion teacher from Costa Rica.
Berrocal was born in 1992 in San Jose, Costa Rica and is a graduate of the prestigious
Royal Conservatory of Antwerp (Belgium) where he studied with Dr. Ludwig Albert and
attained his master´s degree.
At 9 years of age, he initiated marimba and violin studies at the local music school in
in the municipality of Escazu in Costa Rica. In 2004, he was admitted musical studies
at the age of 9 years old in traditional marimba and violin, in the Municipality of Escazu.
In 2004 he entered the youth program of the National Institute of Music in Costa Rica,
where he began his percussion studies under the tutelage of Alejandro Molina Salas
and Bismarck Fernández Vásquez.
Berrocal attained second place at the Filadelfia Marimba Competition in Calabria, Italy
and became the first Central American to receive an award at an international marimba
competition. During the summer of 2018, he was awarded first place in the International
American Protégé Music Talent Competition, an award that led to his Carnegie Hall
debut in New York.
The ARTos Foundation selected him as outstanding student in 2019 while studying in
Belgium and in 2020 was selected by the Animato Orchestra to perform was a soloist
during its Tour of Europe 2020, which, unfortunately was cancelled due to the
pandemic. The World Music Competition also awarded his distinguished participation
in representing Costa Rica.
Berrocal has performed with the Costa Rican National Symphony Orchestra and the
Heredia Symphony Orchestra (Costa Rica), an ensemble that focuses on
contemporary music with whom he recorded various albums. Berrocal has worked with
many distinguished conductors, soloists and composers such as Alex Klein (UK),
Andreas Neufeld (Russia), Gabriela Ortiz (Mexico) and Lorenzo Palomo (Spain).
Berrocal has worked extensively with internationally renowned conductors such as:
Carl St. Claire (US), Alfredo Bonavera (Italy), Giancarlo Guerrero (CR), Hobart Earle
(Venezuela), John Nelson (US), Giancarlo Andretta (Italy) and Ivo Venkov (UK).
Berrocal has participated at the International Arts Festival (Costa Rica), International
Percussion Ensemble Festival (Costa Rica), Sewanee Summer Music Festival (US),
Folk Fest (US), Theodore Milkov Summer Camp (Grecee), Universal Marimba
Competition (Belgium) and Edinburgh International Festival (UK) where he participate
in various master classes renowned percussionists Tomer Yariv (Israel), Pascal Pons
(France), Vassilena Serafimova (Bulgaria,), Casey Cangelosi (US), Ney Rosauro
(Brazil) Michael Burrit (US), Andrew Kauffman (Denmark), Theodore Milkov
(Germany), Eriko Daimo (Japan) and Alejandro Coello (Spain),
In August 2018, he was selected as percussionist for the Youth Orchestra of the
Americas, with which he toured the European continent throughout Poland, Ukraine,
Scotland and Germany, including the prestigious Elbphilharmonie Theater in Hamburg,
under the direction of the renowned Mexican conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto.
Berrocal is, currently a tenured percussion professor at the National Conservatory of
Music in Costa Rica (Instituto Nacional de la Música) where he teaches classical
percussion and concert marimba. He also teaches at the Manuel María Gutiérrez
Orchestra and the SIFAIS program, the latter program which he founded. He has
served on the faculty of the Costa Rican National System of Musical Education
(SINEM), in 2012 at the Municipal Music School of Curridabat in 2015. Berrocal is also
music professor at Franz Liszt Schule in Costa Rica.
Berrocal is frequently asked to teach Master Classes in the Central American Region,
teaching master classes at Costa Rica´s National University, the National Institute of
Music as well as in universities in Guatemala, Panama and Nicaragua. His recently
founded the Inpercussion Festival & Competition where he serves as Artistic Director.
The festival provides students and teachers an opportunity to gather and promote
classical and solo percussion throughout Latin American. Josué Berrocal has been a
Solmusa artist since 2020 and BlackSwamp percussion since 2022.
Julia Reda - USA
Julia Reda is a percussionist and jazz drummer from Atlanta, Georgia. Julia recently graduated with honors from the University of Kansas, studying under Professor Garrett Arney and Dr. Sam Um. As a Graduate Teaching Assistant, she also maintained a private teaching studio of both music and non-music majors and taught courses in percussion techniques. Prior to that, she graduated summa cum laude from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance under the tutelage of Professors Ji Hye Jung and Lee Vinson.
As a performer, Julia has won multiple Downbeat Awards playing drum set with Vanderbilt University’s Blair Big Band, and she has released recordings of several significant chamber works with the Vanderbilt Percussion Group. She continues to actively collaborate with young percussionists and composers alike through commissioning projects, masterclass presentations, and private instruction. With her background in the marching arts, Julia has also served as a percussion technician with several high school band programs throughout the metro-Atlanta area. She is currently working as a freelance artist and instructor in Atlanta.
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Ping-Yu Chiu - Tawian
Born in Taiwan in 1998. Graduated from the Institute of Orchestral Instruments M.M. Program School of Music Taipei National University of the Arts, majoring in percussion, and studied under professor Wu, Shih-Shan and Wu Pei-Ching. He has been studying percussion since he was four years old and is good at performing in various forms, including cross-border cooperation with new media art, dance, drama, and electronic music. He has also collaborated with Orchestra, Wind Orchestra, Percussion Group and Choir. Now, he devotes himself to music performance and teaching.
Melody Tang - USA
A native of Plano, Texas, Melody Tang began her musical career on piano at age four and on guitar and percussion at age nine. Melody is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Percussion Performance with a minor in Music Industry at Southern Methodist University, where she studies with George Nickson, Brian Jones, Ed Smith, Drew Lang, Jamal Mohamed, John Bryant, and Jon Lee. Though she is classically trained, over the years, she has loved diving into other areas of music such as steel pan, theater percussion, contemporary music, hand drumming, and jazz piano.
Melody is an active performer with the Meadows Percussion Ensemble, Meadows Symphony Orchestra, Meadows Wind Symphony, Meadows World Music Ensemble, Meadows Jazz Orchestra, and SYZYGY Contemporary Music Ensemble. Additionally, she is the co-founder and current member of the Midnight Trio, a Dallas-based chamber group. Over the past few years, Melody has performed at the Percussive Arts International Convention, Great Plains International Marimba Competition, Modern Snare Drum Competition, Petrichor International Music Competition, Texas Day of Percussion, Nief Norf Summer Festival, Ted Atkatz Percussion Seminar, Eastern Music Festival, and So Percussion Summer Institute. She has enjoyed performing with Poovalur Sriji, Stewart Copeland, So Percussion, and Bela Fleck in recent concerts.
An advocate for equity and inclusion in the concert percussion community, Melody is an Emerging Artist through The Network for Diversity in Concert Percussion (NDCP). In addition to performing, Melody is passionate about music education and teaches private lessons and provides coaching for percussion programs in Dallas. In her free time, Melody really enjoys reading, photography, hiking, catching amazing sunsets, spending time with friends and family, and giving back to the community.
Noa Bruxelmane - Belgium
Noa Bruxelmane is an active percussionist and educator based in Belgium. He is a Jack of all trades but he is specialized in the Marimba.
He is currently studying percussion in the Mons Royal Conservatory of Music with Gilles Ansciaux and Eléonore Cavalière where he already earned a bachelor’s degree.
Noa is a very versatile musician, playing many styles and genres going from classical to jazz, rock, pop and even marching band.
Besides percussion, Noa is also learning piano, saxophone and jazz drumming. He is passionate about composition and regularly writes for solo percussion or ensembles.
Noa is in charge of the percussion section in a regional orchestra and the Drummer of a Rock Band named "The Soundbirds", where he plays on various stages all across the country. He is often requested on diOerent events and his talent and good vibes is always appreciated.
As a percussionist, Noa is always trying to innovate his style of playing, explore the instruments and their capabilities, and push the limits of percussion playing.
His biggest objective is to show people how great percussion can be and transmit emotions to the public.
"Playing music is like a therapy for me, it helps me express and receive all kind of diOerent emotions. It is my language"
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Remy Besson - USA
Remy Besson began studying music at a young age, first learning piano and quickly shifting to
percussion and drumset. Remy attended the University of Rhode Island studying Music
Education under the guidance of Dr. Kyle Forsthoff. There he focused on becoming a versatile
musician through the study and performance of a wide range of genres from Bach to
Christopher Rouse, while also continuing his jazz studies with Steve Langone.
Throughout his time at URI, Remy strove to involve himself in as many musical
opportunities as possible. This led to several performing opportunities such as performing at the
Newport Jazz Festival as well As Performing Soar by Robert Oetomo as a finalist in the URI
Concerto Competition.
Upon graduating URI, Remy pursued his Masters in Performance at Morehead State
University studying with Dr. Brian Mason, Dr. Ben Cantrell and Dr. Josh Smith. His studies
culminated in a 2 part recital series titled “Dialectics in Percussion” which aimed to provide a
progression of accessible to inaccessible percussion literature with the explicit goal to guide
listeners to form new opinions surrounding avant-garde music. After earning his degree in May
2022, Remy returned to Rhode Island working as a freelance musician, educator and in a music
production.
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Sophia Suante - USA
Performing user- friendly music, Sophia Suante creates stories without needing to speak a word. Her audience sees the clarity in her performances and understands the story it's trying to speak using percussion as her medium. Programming music with unambiguous melodic lines, Sophia captivates the audience with her wit and charm on stage.
During her undergraduate experience, she was involved with several music ensembles ranging from classical ensembles to world ensembles. Sophia was also a contracted member of the Santa Clara Vanguard's front ensemble for the 2020 and 2021 season.
As an educator, Sophia has worked with several high schools in both the Dallas and Nashville
areas. During her graduate studies, she taught the marching percussion and percussion ensembles at the university level. Currently, she is the Percussion Instructor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Sophia has a Bachelor's Degree in Percussion Performance at the University of North Texas. She has studied with Mark Ford, Paul Rennick, and Christopher Deane. She also has a Master’s in Music at Middle Tennessee State University and studied under Lalo Davila and Dr. Brian Mueller.
Sophia keeps up to date with her social media account on Instagram (@sophia_suante) and posts bloopers she has from the several projects she is working on.
Trik Gass - USA
Trik Gass is currently a young percussionist based in Knoxville Tennessee. Trik is in his third year of undergraduate studies at the University of Tennessee Knoxville pursuing a Bachelors in Percussion Performance. Much of Trik’s undergraduate studies have focused on contemporary percussion and African Diaspora music. He has had the benefit of studying under Dr. Andrew Bliss and Kevin Zetina.
Trik thoroughly enjoys the chamber aspect of percussion having performed with both the University of Tennessee percussion ensemble and Ensemble Knox. Most recently Trik participated in the soundSCAPE music festival. Trik has also participated in the UTK steel band, UTK Wind ensemble, and UTK Orchestra.
Driven by his desire to inspire, Trik hopes to continue obtaining and spreading wealthful musical knowledge with the next generation of performers.