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Multi-percussionist Joseph Gramley is a charismatic
performer who radiates energy and a magnetic stage presence.
As The Post and Courier in Charleston SC described a Spoleto
Festival appearance, "Gifted
percussionist Joseph Gramley, playing a formidable battery of
instruments, required athletic as well as musical ability to
manage this one man band....the overall effect was attention-grabbing
and memorable."
"Percussion wizard Joseph Gramley has become a hit, particularly with younger
fans," reports the Times-News, of Burlington NC.
Gramley made his concerto debut with the Houston Symphony Orchestra after winning
its National Soloist Competition, and made his solo debut at Carnegie Hall's
Weill Recital Hall in 1994. After graduate studies at the Juilliard School in
New York City, he performed with the Ethos Percussion Group throughout the U.
S. and Europe.
"An amazing
marimba solo...adept, effective, and dazzling."
The New Britain Herald, Connecticut
An invitation from
Yo-Yo Ma in 2000 led Gramley to join Mr. Ma's Silk Road Project.
He has toured with Mr. Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble throughout
North America, Europe and Asia, performing in the world's finest
concert halls. Along the way, Gramley has studied percussion
styles and instruments from around the globe, collaborating
with internationally-renowned musicians from India, Iran, China,
Japan, Korea and Central Asia.
Lauded by the Cleveland Plain
Dealer as "a Heifetz of
the marimba," Joseph
Gramley grew up in Oregon and was named a Presidential Scholar
in the Arts as a high-school senior in 1988. He did his undergraduate
work at the University of Michigan and also attended the
Interlochen Arts Academy, the Tanglewood Institute and Salzburg
Mozarteum.
"Brilliant performance...mallet
stroke was finely pointed, but tastefully light... rhythmically
and technically very secure...a very sensitive interpretation
of the music."
The Houston Post, Texas
Gramley's performances as a soloist have garnered
acclaim and enthusiasm from the critics, emerging composers,
percussion aficionados and concert-goers alike. He is committed
to bringing fresh and inventive compositions to a broad public,
and each year he commissions and premieres a number of new
works. His first solo recording, American Deconstruction, appeared
in 2000. His second recording, Global Percussion has just
been released on Towerhill Recordings.
Joseph Gramley is director
of the Juilliard Summer Percussion Seminar, an intensive program
for high-school students held at Lincoln Center in New York
City (download
an application form). He performs exclusively on SABIAN
and Black Swamp Percussion instruments. |
