Percussions

Keiko Abe is known as an international marimba player and a great composer in modern marimba world. She has performed in more than 60 countries with prominent orchestras, percussion groups and Jazz artists beyond genres.

David Friedman, internationally renowned vibraphonist, marimbist, composer and jazz educator, has his own musical message, born of fascinatingly diverse musical influences. Few jazz musicians can claim as broad a spectrum of performing and recording experience, with such varied musical personalities as Leonard Bernstein, Luciano Berio, Bobby McFerrin, Wayne Shorter and Yoko Ono. The list doesn`t stop there. Friedman has been heard either live or on recordings with, among others, Joe Henderson, Horace Silver, Johnny Griffin, Jane Ira Bloom, Ron Carter and John Scofield. His compositions are featured on Chet Baker`s award winning Enja release, Peace, with bassist Buster Williams and drummer Joe Chambers. Friedman is also the featured soloist on this recording.

Don Liuzzi was born and raised in Weymouth, Massachusetts, and completed high school at the Franklin Learning Center in Philadelphia. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan and his Master of Music degree from Temple University. Before joining The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1989, Mr. Liuzzi was a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony percussion section from 1982 to 1989.

Born on July 24, 1938, in the Bronx, New York, Mike Mainieri started to learn vibraphone from the age of 12 and made his professional debut at the age of 14. After performing as a member of the Buddy Rich Band, he served as a pioneer in the New York style fusion movement as a band leader of legendary groups, including White Elephant, L'Image, STEPS and STEPS AHEAD together with Steve Gadd, Michael Brecker and other artists in 1970s.

He is considered by critics to be one of the youngest and most brilliant talents in the world of solo percussion, gifted with a musical sensibility and compositional and interpretative creativity which place him at the top of young marimba virtuoso soloists. A true “made in Italy” artist with a solid piano technique on the Marimba which allows him to have a virtuoso performance and an inspired and original compositional ability.

Born in 1967 in Mallersdorf, Mr. Schindlbeck began drumming at age five. After serving as principal percussionist at the Mannheim Nationaltheater, he joined the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1992. While mastering classical percussion, he is also actively performing as a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Jazz Group and appears at numerous jazz festivals. In addition, Mr. Schindlbeck teaches younger musicians as an advisor at the Herbert von Karajan Foundation and as a professor at the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler Berlin.

Nebojsa Zivkovic is recognised as one of the world's top marimba and percussion soloists and as one of the most unique and expressive artists in the field today. He tours Europe extensively, performs in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Russia, Latin America, Mexico, and annually in the USA. As a soloist, Zivkovic has performed with many orchestras around the globe: Stuttgart Philharmonic, Munich Symphonic, Bochum Philharmonic, Austrian Chamber Symphony, Hannover Radio Symphony, National Orchestra of Costa Rica, Minnesota Orchestra and many others.