Rebecca Baggenstoss recently moved to Seattle from Abilene, TX where she taught percussion and AP Music Theory in the public school system for three years (grades 6th-12th). She received a bachelor of music education degree from Oklahoma State University where she studied with Wayne Bovenschen, and a master of music performance in percussion degree from the University of New Mexico where she studied with L. Scott Ney. She has also received lessons from Arthur Lipner, Nancy Zeltsman, She-E Wu, and Momoko Kamiya. Becca has taught private lessons for 14 years to a variety of students, ages ranging from 9 years to 76 years of age. She is qualified to teach solos and ensembles of classical, orchestral, rudimental, and contemporary music. She was a front ensemble member of the 1993 Black Gold drum and bugle corps; and a section leader for the 1995 Delta Brigade drum and bugle corps, and the 1996-97 Americanos drum and bugle corps, where she also won honors for being the ‘Most Outstanding Percussionist’. Becca currently performs with the Lake Union Civic Orchestra and has performed with the OSU Symphonic Orchestra, the UNM Symphonic Orchestra, the Fort Smith Symphony, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, and the Seattle Philharmonic. It was under the direction of Jorge Perez-Gomez with the UNM Symphony Orchestra that she had the opportunity to travel to Mexico and perform the music for a puppet show, written but never premiered by Silvestre Revueltas at a Revueltas Festival in 2004. Becca performed as a member of the front ensemble, bass drum and snare drum lines for the OSU Cowboy Marching Band and was a member of the OSU Wind Ensemble for five years under the direction of Dr. Joseph P. Missal, during which she had the opportunities to play for various conventions such as Collegiate Band Directors National Association and WASBE. Also, she performed with the UNM Wind Symphony for two years under the direction of Eric Kendall-Rombach. Becca has performed with the OSU Theatre Department, the Oklahoma City Ballet, the Albuquerque Children’s Theatre, and was the principle percussionist for the Cooper High School musical for two years. She has also organized and participated in various percussion ensembles including UNM African Drumming Ensemble, UNM Mexican Marimba Band, New Mexican Marimba Band (under the direction of the founder: Steve Chavez), Abilene Percussion Ensemble, and both classical and contemporary ensembles. Currently, she is performing with the Seattle Percussion Collective. Since arriving in Seattle a few months ago, Becca has created solo marimba gigs through various art walks and nursing homes, and has accompanied a flautist on an undergraduate recital. “My passion lies in music… Everything about it. I love to discover, experience, teach, research, compose, perform, and share music with others. It is my dream to spread that passion forward: to share the joy of expression and creativity. I am intrigued by the blurring of boundaries between art forms and enjoy creating multi-media experiences. I am also enthralled by the concepts and philosophies which make up so much of today’s contemporary music.” Greg Campbell plays drums and percussion in styles ranging from steelband to Afro-pop, straight-ahead and avant garde jazz to orchestral percussion. A master's degree from the New England Conservatory gave him the opportunity to learn from and work with Dave Holland, George Russell, Bob Moses, and Cecil McBee, and at the University of Washington he earned a doctorate in percussion performance as a student of Tom Collier, Michael Crusoe, and Marc Seales, and feels fortunate to have studied with Ghanaian national treasure Koo Nimo, steelpan master Ray Holman, maraca virtuoso Euclides Aparicio, and many other UW visiting artists. He has performed with figures such as Muhal Richard Abrams, Rufus Reid, Quincy Jones, Nels Cline, Hadley Caliman, Michael Bisio, Tom Varner, Bill Smith, and Stuart Dempster, and has been a member of groups such as the Seattle EXperimental Opera, the Tom Baker Quartet, the Young Composers Collective, the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, Project W, and the Ghanaian drumming ensemble Anokye Agofomma. He currently teaches music courses at Cascadia Community College, and has many private students as well. PAUL KIKUCHI is a percussionist, composer, and instrument maker living in Seattle, WA. He holds degrees in music from Bennington College and California Institute of the Arts, where he studied with Milford Graves, Wadada Leo Smith, Swapan Chaudhuri, and Vinny Golia among others. Paul is a member of the Empty Cage Quartet, Open Graves, Tide Tables, the Toy Boats, Crosstalk, the Seattle Percussion Collective, and Orkestar Zirkonium. He leads Paul Kikuchi’s Portable Sanctuary, an ensemble that features his compositions and his sculptural percussion instruments. Kikuchi has performed throughout North America and Europe at festivals such as the Pepsi Sziget Festival (Budapest, HU) Vancouver International Jazz Festival, the Festival for People and Thingamajigs (SF, CA) and the Earshot Jazz Festival (Seattle, WA). His playing can be heard on a variety of record labels including Clean Feed, Tomlab, Nine Winds, Rude Awakening Presente, and PFmentum. Paul is the founder and artistic director of Prefecture Records, a small label specializing in experimental percussion-based music and site-responsive recordings. In recent years Kikuchi has received artistic support and funding from Seattle’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Artist Trust, Chamber Music America, the American Composers Forum, the Jack Straw Foundation, and the Montalvo Center for the Arts. He is currently audio faculty at the Art Institute of Seattle. Bob Rees is well known around the Pacific Northwest for his work as a free jazz drummer and improvising percussionist, as well as playing percussion and keyboards with Seattle based group Flowmotion. His work with the Wally Shoup Trio has recieved critical acclaim as has the group's releases on London based label Leo Records. Rees has performed throughout North America and Europe and shared the stage with a diversity of local, national, and international artists including Santana drummer Michael Shrieve, WAR's Lee Oskar, Grand National Banjo Champion Tony Furtado, Michael Franti and Spearhead, guitarist Steve Kimmock, Michael Travis (String Cheese Incident), The Everyone Orchestra, New York saxophonists Daniel Carter and Jessica Lurie, British improvisers Mark Sanders and John Edwards, Sun Ra Arkestra saxophonist Noel Scott, composers Wayne Horvitz and Greg Sinibaldi, bassists Reuben Radding and Mike Bisio, and with improvising saxophonist and painter Wally Shoup. Rees holds music education and percussion performance degrees from Eastern Washington University and has taught for Bellevue Public Schools, Music Works Northwest, Bellevue Youth Symphony, as well as the Seattle Drum School. Bob works with Pacific Northwest Ballet's Children's Outreach program, as well as the Rainier Ballet Academy. Rees is a recipient of a Jack Straw Artist Support Grant, and his solo mallet music can be heard on the Seattle Art Museum's audio guide. Dale Speicher is a percussionist based in Seattle, Washington. Hailed as a “hidden treasure in the Seattle music scene” by Seattle publication The Stranger, Mr. Speicher has dedicated his career to new and experimental music written for percussion. Dale is currently commissioning new works for solo percussion and chamber music including percussion. In the Pacific Northwest, Dale is a busy freelance percussionist appearing with orchestras, in musical theater and with dance bands. Mr. Speicher’s music can be heard as the score for the short film “Interstice” that has appeared at the Georgetown Super 8 Film Festival, the Seattle Film Festival and in the Detours Film Festival in Santorini, Greece. Mr. Speicher was a founding member of Trio Algetic, Two, a percussion duo and is an active participant in the Seattle Percussion Collective and Affinity Chamber Players. Dale’s work can be heard on the Present Sounds and 11 West record labels. He will be recording a CD for solo and chamber percussion music in 2009/2010. Dale has appeared and worked with many wonderful musicians throughout the country including: Robert Van Sice, Dr. Larry Snider, James Wood, Steven Schick, Dave Brubeck, Annea Lockwood, Ernestine Anderson, Christopher Leonard, Dave Samuels, and Roger Zahab Bonnie Whiting Smith's mission is to explore the flexible boundaries between music and other disciplines. In addition to performing diverse works for percussion, she commissions new music, integrates text, music, and movement into performance, plays turntable, and composes. A committed performer/educator, Bonnie spent three years working as the percussionist with Tales & Scales, a not-for-profit national touring ensemble. This quartet integrates original contemporary chamber music, modern dance, and theater for children and family audiences. During her tenure, she gave over 400 performances in 25 states. T&S also collaborated with orchestras all over the country; memorable performances were with the Dallas, Oregon, Indianapolis, Buffalo, and Louisville symphony orchestras. Bonnie has played everywhere from performing arts centers, such as the Kravis Center, the New Jersey PAC, and the Orange County PAC, to school gymnasiums, and even a sheep barn. This summer, she's looking forward to performing at the Banff Centre in Canada, the Oberlin Percussion Institute in Ohio, the Old Songs festival in Albany, and playing under Pierre Boulez at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland. Like most classically-trained performers, Bonnie spent a lot of time in school, attending Oberlin Conservatory, Interlochen Arts Academy, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She begins a DMA in contemporary music performance at UC San Diego in the fall, where she’ll play with the ensemble Red Fish Blue Fish under percussionist Steve Schick. Her interest in other disciplines also lead her to pursue studies and coachings in dance and theater. A Michigan native recently transplanted to Seattle, Bonnie spends much of her non-percussive time in the great outdoors running long distances and hiking. You might also find her reading new American fiction and consuming vast quantities of food with her stage director husband, Ben. Denali Williams received a Bachelor of Music degree in Percussion Performance from Eastern Washington University and has been an active percussionist spanning genres from new music to rock & roll. Denali has performed new works with Seattle Chamber Music Society, Quasar Quatuor du Saxophones, Loop 2.4.3, Tacoma New Music, and ZEPHYR. He can also be found perfoming as a member of the Tacoma Symphony percussion section as well as with the nationally performing band The Staxx Brothers. Home |
