Short Bio

Currently Michael works as an Educational Program Assistant II for the University of Connecticut’s Department of Communication. In his free time he also performs with the Connecticut Symphony Orchestra as their Assistant Timpanist and Section Percussionist, as well as UHartt’s Capitol Symphonic Winds as their Principal Percussionist. When not performing or working Michael loves to read and enjoy the nature of Connecticut. He has two cats named Mel and Clover.

Academic Summary

Michael graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2020 with a Bachelor of Music in Composition and a Bachelor of Music in Instrumental Performance (Percussion) from the University of Connecticut (UConn).

During his time at UConn he performed in many ensembles and put on three recitals*. As a freshman Michael was placed in the University’s highest instrumental ensemble, the UConn Wind Ensemble, by the esteemed conductor, Jeffrey H. Renshaw. He was one of four freshman in the 40+ member ensemble that semester. In his Junior Year he was the Principal Percussionist of the Wind Ensemble under Vu Nguyen. and in his senior year he became the Principal Percussionist of the UConn Symphony Orchestra under André Raphel, of which he had been a member of since his second semester. Michael was also a member of the UConn Percussion Ensemble where he acted as a soloist in performances of marimba duets 2+1 and Catching Shadows by Ivan Trevino. In addition to his percussive exploits he also played various recorders in the UConn Collegium Musicum (Early Music Ensemble) led by Eric Rice.

Michael was also one of the school’s few active composers. He studied composition with Grammy award winning composer Kenneth Fuchs, and spent a semester with jazz pianist/composer Earl MacDonald as well. Michael was honored to get to participate in masterclasses with the renowned composers Richard Danielpour and David Dzubay in his Freshman and Sophomore years. While at UConn, Michael had his works performed by Rod Nelman’s vocal studio, the UConn Saxophone Quartet, and the UConn Percussion Ensemble. He even received a reading of one of his symphonic works by the UConn Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Harvey Felder III.

In 2019 Michael won the UConn Concerto/Aria Competition with a performance of Emmanuel Séjourné's Vibraphone Concerto. He was the first percussionist to win the competition in the living memory of the school. He performed the piece on March 6th, 2020 with the UConn Symphony Orchestra under the direction of André Raphel as the sole Undergraduate winner of the competition. The performance can be viewed here.

In 2021 Michael began pursuing a Masters degree in Media Scoring and Production from the Frost School of Music. There he learned the skills behind audio recording, mixing, Foley, sound design, Film scoring, video game scoring, and live sound engineering.

While pursuing his studies Michael became employed as a Media Lab Technician in the school’s computer lab where he helped teach students Pro Tools and Logic. He was also selected to be his department’s senator for the Graduate Student Association. In his 2nd year, Michael began training with live sound and video engineering. He worked many live concerts; doing video for the East Coast premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Double Percussion Concerto as well as recording for several classical doctoral performance recitals.

Before college Michael became well-versed in musicals having played percussion for them since his sophomore year of high school. He has played percussion in the following musicals: Les Miserables, Pippin, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Little Mermaid, The Music Man, West Side Story, The Beauty and the Beast, Once on this Island, Big the Musical, Peter Pan, and the Fantasticks.

*The third and final recital was cancelled due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, but all the planning had been done beforehand and pieces of the recital were later created separately and released to the public.

Life Before College

Michael was born in Long Island, New York but moved to Glastonbury, Connecticut when he was two years old. His parents began his musical journey by exposing him to their favorite artists who Michael also grew to love such as Loggins & Messina, CSN, Talking Heads, and James Taylor.

Michael was introduced to history and fantasy early in life though the video games Age of Empires II and Age of Mythology which both set him down the path of adventure. Throughout Michael’s childhood he was steadily introduced to the many fantastical works of fiction kids are often exposed to. Disney movies were of course a big part of this, but it was what Michael’s love of Disney led to that pushed his love of adventure even further. The Square Enix game Kingdom Hearts II was released at the time Michael first got a Playstation 2. The game’s amazing soundtrack introduced Michael to what instrumental music could do.

Michael attended public school in Glastonbury and began studying percussion in the fourth grade. He did not take private lessons until his sophomore year of high school however. This was due to the unfortunate life of percussionists in school band. Often most kids are given very little to do and often feel unimportant to the music. Michael certainly felt that way until his freshman year of high school when he got to play timpani and mallets for the first time. These instruments clicked with him and he began private lessons with Richard Guastamachio at Dynamic Percussion that Summer.

Throughout his time at Glastonbury High School Michael got into every festival he auditioned for. He was the top Connecticut Eastern Regional Mallet Player in his junior year and the top timpani and mallet player in his senior year. He played Mallets with the Connecticut All-State Concert Band in his junior year, even premiering a new piece by Brian Balmages. In his senior year he was placed in the Connecticut All-State Orchestra and played 1st timpani in Mars and Jupiter from Holst’s Planets Suite. This performance can be heard here. Michael also played timpani in the Nemfa Festival in both his junior and senior year.