Meet the Artists

Hila Plitmann

Ola Gjeilo

THREE

Andrew Cyr

Ricardo Romaneiro

Ryan Francis

Leo Leite

Mike Atkinson

Thomas Boulton

Jack Chou

Sean Connors

Rachel Drehmann

Jonathan Greenberg

Nate Hepler

Tom Hutchinson

Danielle Kuhlmann

Britton Matthews

Katie Miller

Rajesh Prasad

Luke Rinderknecht

Annie Stevens

Jason Sugata

Alana Vegter

Sean Connors
percussion

Sean Connors received a master’s degree from Northwestern University where he studied with Michael Burritt and graduated with Program Honors.  At Northwestern, he won the school-wide concerto competition and played the United States premiere of Tobias Brostrom’s ARENA Concerto for Percussion with a Northwestern University orchestra.  He previously attended the Eastman School of Music where he studied with John Beck, received a BM in percussion performance and music education, and was awarded the school’s prestigious Performer’s Certificate.  While at Eastman, Sean was named a 2004 percussion scholar by the Zildjian Company, received certificates from both the Arts Leadership and World Music programs, was a founding member of Amphion percussion ensemble, and toured Asia with the Eastman Wind Ensemble. 

Recently, Sean has been performing and teaching in the greater Chicago area.  He gave a solo recital at Nichol’s Hall of the Music Institute of Chicago in March and performed Michael Burritt’s Timeless as soloist with the Northwestern Percussion Ensemble, as well as the Ridgewood High School Percussion Ensemble in New Jersey.  He was a guest clinician for the Chicago-based JumP Start youth percussion ensemble Day of Percussion and taught classroom music for two years in Glenview, Illinois.  In addition, he has appeared with such varied ensembles as I.C.E. (International Contemporary Ensemble), dal niente new music group, the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, International Chamber Artists,  PLOrk (Princeton Laptop Orchestra), New Music Ensemble of University of Chicago, and Third Coast Percussion.

Sean is a founding member of Vital Signs, a cello, harp, tuba, and percussion quartet based in Cleveland.  He has worked with such renowned composers as John Adams, Augusta Read Thomas, David Lang, Jack Fortner, and Eric Whitacre and performed the world premiere of Syndey Hodkinson's trio Shredded Postcards with respected Eastman faculty Oleh Krysa, violin, and Kenneth Grant, clarinet.  In the fall, Sean will be attending Eastman once again to begin doctoral studies and will be traveling to Chihuahua, Mexico as a member of Eastman BroadBand to participate in the Chihuahua International Festival.