MusicFaculty Directory

Concentration: 

Percussion

Alan Abel

Percussion

Former Associate Principal Percussionist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Alan Abel retired in September 1997 after 38 years of service. He currently works with graduate students at Temple University and gives master classes at Rutgers University. Abel has compiled two books on orchestral studies for timpani and percussion for G. Schirmer, Inc. and has designed and produced symphonic triangles and bass drum stands that are used throughout the world. Abel has served on the PAS Board of Directors, was inducted into the PAS Hall of Fame in 1998, and is presently Chair of the PAS Symphonic Committee. He has been a faculty member of the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City University, Glassboro State College, and the Philadelphia Settlement Music School. Abel was a part-time member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and, after two years in a U.S. Air Force Band, played in the Oklahoma City Symphony (1953–59). He has given clinics and master classes throughout the U.S., Australia, Germany, and Japan, and is still active in this medium.


Victor Lewis

Jazz Drums

As a child, Victor Lewis studied cello, piano and finally drums, doing his first home town gigs in Omaha, Nebraska at age 15. The youngster was encouraged by such as Buster Williams and Billy Hart to make the move to New York where in 1974 he began a quick ascension to prominence. Victor was the first-call drummer for masters like Joe Farrell, Dexter Gordon, and Hubert Laws and started long-time associations with Woody Shaw, Carla Bley, David Sanborn, Kenny Barron, Bobby Watson, and Stan Getz. One of the leading drummers of our time, Victor also has a second reputation as a dedicated composer and smart bandleader.

Office: Rehearsal 209 | Phone: 732-932-9302
Email: jojoklein@aol.com
Full Biography

Markus Rhoten
Born in 1978 in Hanover, Germany, Mr. Rhoten attended the College of Arts in Berlin, and continued his studies as an apprentice with the National Opera Orchestra Mannheim. Subsequently, he was awarded a stipend for the Academy of the Bavarian Radio Orchestra in Munich, and in 2002 became principal timpanist of the Bavarian Radio Orchestra under Lorin Maazel. He has also worked with conductors Mariss Jansons, Riccardo Muti, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Franz Welser-Möst, Thomas Daussgard, Paavo Järvi, and Mstislav Rostropovich, among others. Mr. Rhoten has also performed with the Hessen Radio Symphony Orchestra; Zurich Opera Orchestra; North German Radio Philharmonic; Lower Saxony State Opera Orchestra; and Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. Markus Rhoten joined the New York Philharmonic as Principal Timpani in September 2006. Prior to this appointment he was the principal timpanist of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, led by Eliahu Inbal.


Joseph Tompkins

Percussion

Percussionist Joseph Tompkins has performed with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Opera and Ballet Orchestras, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. On Broadway he has played in productions of The King and I, Swan Lake, Oklahoma!, The Lion King, The Producers, Spamalot, The Light in the Piazza, Tarzan, Guys and Dolls and In the Heights. Tompkins has a performed on film soundtracks for The Manchurian Candidate, The Last Holiday, Failure to Launch, and Casanova. For seven years he was a member of the percussion trio Timetable, a group committed to commissioning and performing new works for percussion. He is Chair of the Percussion Department at Rutgers University and a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the Manhattan School.


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