ABOUT

Percussionist William Brown has an extensive background of performance, from a vast classical repertoire to a riveting collection of solo pieces, along with ensemble involvements that foray into exciting avenues of musical selections.

Mr. Brown is an accomplished solo artist and competitor at international marimba competitions. He has won first prize in the marimba division of the New York International Percussion Competition, second prize at both the Bamberg Marimba Competition and the Great Plains International Marimba Competition, and won the Taiwan Percussion Arts Alliance Online Soloist Audition.

As an orchestral musician he has worked with the finest the symphonic world has to offer. in 2019, Mr. Brown recorded with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra as a section percussionist on their GRAMMY-nominated album Transatlantic. In 2023 he won a position with the Des Moines Metropolitan Opera. Recent orchestral work has included performances with The Venice Symphony (FL), The Symphony of the Americas, Brevard Symphony Orchestra, SouthWest Florida Symphony Orchestra, and New World Symphony.

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In 2019 and 2023, William toured England, Spain, and Portugal with the World Percussion Group, a hand-picked group of percussionists from a highly competitive worldwide audition process. In England, the tour included performances at the Birmingham Conservatory and the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, with additional stops at musical institutions in Spain and Portugal to give dynamic performances and clinics. Mr. Brown presented talks on performance psychology to audiences across both tours that he continues to share in universities around the United States, including Texas A&M Corpus Christi and the University of South Florida.

As a freelance percussionist, Mr. Brown has the unique opportunity to work with world-renowned acts as they are touring. These acts have included legendary rock-band The Who, Cirque Musica, Arturo Sandoval, The Irish Tenors, Kristen Chenoweth, and Johnny Mathis. William has played hundreds of shows with the Asolo Theatre as a percussionist and drummer in Sound of Music, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, and Hood.

In addition to his performance focus, Mr. Brown is an active educator who has years of experience in percussive pedagogy. Mr. Brown is a multi-faceted teacher, working as a private tutor, guest clinician, and regular instructor at several institutions. He teaches all ages, having presented classes at high schools, middle schools, universities, and conservatories both in the United States and Europe.Mr. Brown received his undergraduate degree from the University of South Florida with Robert McCormick, where he performed on five albums of new music for percussion orchestra, including “At Seventy, The Percussion Music of Stuart Saunders Smith.” He received his master’s in music performance at Frost School of Music under Svetoslav Stoyanov and Joseph Petrasek, where he was a Mancini Fellow. William has enjoyed additional musical development at the Brevard Music Center, Avaloch Farm Music Institute, Arcata Gathering, and Festival Napa Valley.