The international jury of TROMP 2018

Michael Burritt has been soloist with the Dallas Wind Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra and Ju Percussion Group (Taiwan) among others. He also performed with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, The Chicago Symphony, The Rembrandt Players, and the The Penninsula Music Festival Orchestra. He has three solo recordings - Perpetual, and Shadow Chasers and recently released his third entitled Waking Dreams on the Resonator Records label. He has been a featured artist at seven Percussive Arts Society International Conventions. In 1992 he presented his New York solo debut in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall and in 1998 performed his London debut in the Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall.

His works for solo marimba have become standard repertoire for the instrument and are frequently required repertoire on international competitions. He has been commissioned by The World Marimba Competition in Stuttgart Germany, The Paris International Marimba Competition and the Third Coast Percussion Quartet among others.

Michael Burritt is a member of the Percussive Arts Society Board of Directors, a contributing editor for Percussive Notes Magazine and the chairman of the PAS Keyboard Committee. He is currently Professor of Percussion and head of the department at The Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Prior to his appointment at Eastman Mr. Burritt was Professor of Percussion at Northwestern University from 1995-2008 where he developed a program of international distinction.

Austrian multi-percussionist Martin Grubinger possesses an unusually broad repertoire ranging from solo works and chamber music with partners including his own Percussive Planet Ensemble, to percussion concertos. His technical perfection, enthusiasm and musical versatility make his performances to real ‘must-see’ events.

He got invitations to Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, SWR Sinfonieorchester, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg among many others. This year he works with Dresdner Philharmonie and their chief conductor Michael Sanderling and with Wiener Symphonikern and Gustavo Gimeno. Amongst the growing number of works written for Grubinger are Avner Dorman’s Frozen in Time (2007) and Friedrich Cerha’s Concerto (2008), performed and recorded with the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Peter Eötvös on Kairos, as well as Tan Dun’s concerto, Tears of Nature (2012). Spring 2014 saw the German premiere of Eötvös’ Speaking Drums with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra conducted by the composer.

Winner of multiple prizes, Martin Grubinger is recipient of the Bernstein Award by the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival and the prestigious Jeunesses Musicales’ Würth Prize. Grubinger’s first CD, Drums‘n’Chant was soon followed by a live recording of The Percussive Planet on DVD, both for Deutsche Grammophon. He has since recorded a number of projects for various labels.

_{Photo: Felix-Broede}

Acknowledged for her deep musicality with both energy and sensitivity, Momoko Kamiya has been considered as one of the leading marimbist in her generation for many years.
She is a professor of the percussion department at Tokyo College of Music. She is also a permanent guest professor at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music where she served as the head of the percussion department for 5 years, a permanent guest professor at Elizabeth Music University, and a percussion faculty at Kunitachi College of Music. She was also a faculty at Aichi Prefectural University of Art and Okinawa Prefectural University of Art for over 20 years.

She was awarded the first prize at the Luxembourg International Marimba competition in 1995. The Toyota Foundation selected her as one of “The Top Young Artists Today” in 2001 ,and in 2005 she was recognized by Kawasaki City, Japan for her distinguished musical activities and received the Azalea Cultural Prize.

Momoko Started taking marimba lessons from Atsushi Sugahara at age of 7.
She received the honor to be the first successful candidate to be accepted to Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music in its history as a marimba soloist. In the following year she entered the Juilliard School and completed the Bachelor of Music and was honored with many scholarships .

She actively presents concerts throughout Japan and various countries in Europe, Asia, United States and South America. She has been constantly invited to give masterclasses and concerts at many music festivals and seminars in Japan as well as abroad including International Summer Academy Mozarteum in Salzburg .She has served on the juries of international competitions in over 10 countries which includes Linz International Marimba Competition, TROMP Eindhoven International Percussion Competition, and International Percussion Competition Luxembourg .She has made numerous concerto performances with major orchestras in Japan, Europe, and Asia. With the trust from many composers, she has premiered many pieces many of which dedicated to her. In recent years, she successfully premiered the pieces by Joe Hisaishi, Toshiyuki Watanabe, Kousuke Yamashita, and Kazunori Miyake.
Her 6 solo CDs were all highly acclaimed for her splendid performance, also to its unique and stylish programing. In 2018, she released a new CD of a new trio of marimba, violin and electric organ established with her respected colleagues Sachika Mizuno and Hiromi Akatsuka.

Besides the universities in Japan, she has invited to give lessons and masterclasses from many universities and conservatories in abroad such as Universitat fur Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, Hochschule fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main , Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, Anton Bruckner Privatuniversitat, Conservatoire a Rayonnement Regional de Paris CRR, Conservatorium van Amsterdam, Manhattan School of Music, Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, Shenyang Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Conservatory, National Taiwan Univeristy of Arts, Korea National University of Arts, Mahidon University in Thailand and more.
Momoko Kamiya is a YAMAHA artist and exclusively plays YM 5100 model. She is also a signature artist of Resta-Jay Percussions. Her signature marimba mallets have been developed from Resta-Jay Percussions.

Arnold Marinissen is a praised percussionist, who as a composer likes to write for voices and the multi-coloured family of percussion instruments. He composed for Asko|Schönberg, Nederlands Kamerkoor, Ives Ensemble, Orgelpark, Club Guy & Roni and the Dutch film Bernard among others. New work was recently performed by Slagwerk Den Haag, Silbersee, the Insomnia Percussion Trio and by the percussion duo Niek KleinJan/Konstantyn Napolov in the NJO Music Summer.

As a solo percussionist and in chamber music Arnold Marinissen has performed extensively. He was artist in residence at De Doelen in Rotterdam, guest at the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ in Amsterdam and at festivals all over Europe, in Boston, Shanghai, London, Russia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Uzbekistan.

Record label BVHaast released three solo CDs by Marinissen, Traces of Cultures, Layered Rhythms and Percussionist Songs. The press about these CDs: "The infectious delight Marinissen brings to performances of contemporary music", "percussionist extraordinaire Arnold Marinissen ...”, “A wonderful collection of stimulating solo percussion performances." 

A direct contact and exchange with performers inspires Arnold Marinissen. He is staff member at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, programmed the 2012-13 season for the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ in Amsterdam, and was founder and leader of the Dutch ensemble Lunapark/Lunatree, together with Anthony Fiumara.

Mark Pekarsky is a legendary Russian percussionist. He was born in Moscow and graduated from the Gnessins Musical-Pedagogical Institute (now the Russian Academy of Music). As a student Mark Pekarsky performed with the Opera-Symphony Orchestra of Radio & TV Moscow and later joined the Moscow Ensemble of Early Music "Madrigal".

In 1976 he founded the first Russian percussion ensemble, with a choice of 200 scores composed for the ensemble by several generations of Russian composers. "‘A catalyst for Russian composers' creative activity", according to The Berlin Newspaper Tagesspiegel.

As a soloist and the leader of the Percussion Ensemble, Mark Pekarsky took part in such festivals as Berliner Festwochen, Warsaw Autumn, Internationale Junifestwochen in Zurich, Helsinky Festival, Settembre Musica in Torino, Wien Modern, Ferte de la Percussion and Maison de Radio France and "Presenses" in Paris.

His master classes and seminars all over Russia and abroad have made Mark Pekarsky a 'center of attraction” for percussionists. Pekarksy also started the famous Pekarsky Percussion Project devoted to the problems of modern percussion repertoire in 2000. Since 1997 Mark Pekarsky is a professor at the Moscow Conservatory and he gives master classes and seminars all over Russia and abroad.

Emmanuel Séjourné is a percussionist and a composer. Acclaimed by members of the percussion community, his works have been commissioned or recorded by many artists including Bogdan Bacanu, Christoph Sietzen, Alexej Gerassimez, Gary Cook, Ju-Percussion group, Nancy Zeltsman, Marta Klimasara and Katarzyna Mycka.

Simultaneously, Emmanuel Séjourné makes a career as an instrumentalist. His ensemble Noco Music with saxophonist Philippe Geiss was awarded the European Audiovisuel Grand Prix. As a soloist, as well as with the ensemble Accroche-Note, he has performed all over the world and premiered over a hundred pieces of music (Donatoni, Manoury, Fedele, Hurel…) including concertos, chamber music and solos.

Eager to share and communicate his passion, Emmanuel Séjourné is also Head Teacher of Percussion Department at the Strasbourg Academy of Music/ Conservatory. His Master Classes are extremely sucessful in all major music conservatories in Europe, Asia and the USA.

Ruwen Yang is a professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Master Supervisor and Deputy Director of the Department of Modern Instruments and Percussion. In his leadership role he has made major contributions in subject and teaching materials development, as well as discovery and education of talent. He is renowned for being at the forefront of percussion education with his scientific and precise teaching method. Prof. Yang’s students have won more than 30 international and over 40 national awards, putting mainland Chinese percussionists on the map both in China and overseas. 

As a performer, Ruwen Yang plays both Chinese traditional, Western classical and modern percussion works. In addition, he has commissioned numerous contemporary compositions. He has collaborated with artists and ensembles including Wenzhong Chou, Quincy Jones, Luc Besson, L’Orchestre National de France, and Berlin Modern Opera. He was the judge of The Fourth and Fifth World Marimba Competitions, International Great Chinese Marimba Competition (Taiwan, 2011), The Third and Fourth Greek International Youth Solo Percussion Competitions, and Singapore Chinese International Percussion Competition.

In addition, Prof Yang appears on films and CD recordings including The Banquet, Shaolin Temple, Sister Drum, First Emperor of Qin, Lei Feng Tower, Paramita, Something the Lord Made, Home, Xing Cao, and was interviewed by television, radio, newspapers and magazines around the world. Prof. Ruwen Yang, whose shows always cause great sensation all over the world, is said to be an “exceptional world-class percussionist”.