Percussion Masterclass with Phillip O’Banion

Temple University’s Phillip O’Banion shares his expertise with percussion students in this special online masterclass. For more information and to register, please email Mary Louise Curtis Branch Director Kris Rudzinksi.

Phillip O’Banion is Associate Professor and Director of Percussion Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia. O’Banion performs often with the Philadelphia Orchestra and other symphonic ensembles, new music groups, and theater productions. He is a regular percussionist for Orchestra 2001 and Network for New Music. O’Banion has appeared as performer and conductor on programs presented by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and is a frequent collaborative guest with POPG (Philadelphia Orchestra Percussion Group). Prof. O’Banion is the artistic director and conductor of the Temple University Percussion Ensemble, Boyer Percussion Group, and Philadelphia Percussion + Piano Project.

O’Banion has been involved in the commission or premiere of over fifty new works in the solo and chamber music genres to date. He has appeared internationally in Europe, Canada, South America, and across the United States. His solo album, Digital Divide for percussion and electronics, and his recording of Adam Silverman’s marimba concerto Carbon Paper and Nitrogen Ink are available through BCM+D records. Mr. O’Banion can be heard on recordings of works by Bernstein and Rachmaninoff with the Philadelphia Orchestra on the Deutsche Grammophon label. His most recent recording, Radiant Outbursts: (In)Human Progress was released August 2020 where he is heard both as marimbist, and as conductor of the Philadelphia Percussion + Piano Project. The album’s namesake is a world premiere for clarinet, cello, marimba, and piano. Bernstein’s ‘Halil’ for solo flute and percussion (soloist, Mimi Stillman) and George Antheil’s tour de force ‘Ballet Mècanique’ round out this latest recording.

Professor O’Banion currently chairs the Percussive Arts Society’s symphonic committee, and has been a regular contributor to the new music and literature review column for Percussive Notes. He has appeared at numerous PAS conventions, Days of Percussion, and international music festivals. O’Banion serves on the faculty of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in Tennessee, and previously taught at the Settlement Music School. He is pleased to endore instruments made by Pearl/Adams, Sabian, Evans, Vic Firth, and Grover Pro Percussion.