The Philadelphia Percussion Project consists of members of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s percussion section, under the direction of Don Liuzzi.

Before joining The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1989, Mr. Liuzzi was a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony percussion section from 1982 to 1989. While in Pittsburgh he taught percussion and conducted the percussion ensemble at Duquesne University, was assistant conductor of the Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestra, and appeared on PBS’ nationally syndicated Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, performing marimba and percussion solos.

Christopher Deviney became principal percussion of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 2003. Prior to assuming this title, he was section percussionist in the Houston Symphony. He has also previously performed and recorded with the New Orleans Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, and the New York Philharmonic. Before beginning his current tenure in Philadelphia, he was a substitute percussionist with The Philadelphia Orchestra on many occasions. He traveled with the Orchestra on its 1991 tour of Europe with Riccardo Muti and its 1996 tour of Asia with Wolfgang Sawallisch. Mr. Deviney also joined the Orchestra for recording sessions with conductors Charles Dutoit, Myung-Whun Chung, and David Zinman.

Angela Zator Nelson, associate principal timpani and section percussion, joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1999 as the first female percussionist ever hired by the Orchestra. A native of the Chicago area, Ms. Nelson graduated from Northwestern University’s School of Music where she studied with James Ross and Patricia Dash of the Chicago Symphony and with marimba virtuoso Michael Burritt. While in Chicago, Ms. Nelson was principal percussion of the Civic Orchestra for three years. In 2001, she obtained a masters degree in music performance from Temple University, where her principal instructor was Alan Abel of The Philadelphia Orchestra.

A native of Reading, Pennsylvania, Anthony Orlando was appointed to The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1972 by Eugene Ormandy. Prior to his appointment, he was principal percussion and/or timpani with the Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra, the Opera Company of Philadelphia Orchestra, the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, the Lancaster Symphony, and the Trenton Symphony.

Born and raised in San Juan, P.R., Rolando Morales-Matos began his musical studies at the prestigious performing-arts high school Escuela Libre de Música. He received his B.F.A. in music from Carnegie Mellon University, his M.A. from Duquesne University, and a Certificate of Professional Studies from Temple University.

He is a percussionist and assistant conductor with Disney's Lion King and performs and records regularly in New York City with various Latin jazz groups and chamber orchestras. He has recorded soundtracks for the films Failure to Launch and The Pink Panther and appears playing onscreen in the Disney movie Enchanted. Mr. Morales-Matos is a member of Ron Carter Foursight Jazz Quartet and is an extra percussionist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

His career has taken him all over the world, from Spain to New Zealand, where he has held principal timpani and percussion positions with state orchestras.

He is the recipient of the 2006 Drum Magazine world beat percussionist-of-the-year award.

Mr. Morales-Matos, who also teaches at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City, joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2001.

N. Scott Robinson, world percussionist, performer-scholar, and teacher, has performed on the Grammy Award-winning CD Harlem Renaissance with the Benny Carter Big Band. He has also performed or recorded with:

Jazz musicians Larry Coryell, Howard Levy, John Clark, Art Baron, Peter Sprague, Tripp Sprague, Ken Filiano, Bob Magnusson, Bob Boss, Michael Formanek, Dave Ballou, Thomas Chapin, Robert Musso, Howard Johnson, Jeanie Bryson, Kenny Washington, Jon Regen, Janiece Jaffe, C. Winton Reynolds, James Romeo, Jaeryoung Lee, and Daniel Palomo Vinuesa.

World musicians Paul Winter Consort, Glen Velez, Eugene Friesen, Paul Halley, Steve Gorn, Michael DeLalla, Oxymora, and Autumn's Child.

Middle Eastern musicians Simon Shaheen, Haig Manoukian, Brandon Terzic, Naghmeh Farahmand, Houman Pourmehdi, Mohsen Taherzadeh, Pejman Hadadi, Maryam Hatef, Omri Hason, and Eliyahu Sills.

And many, many others...

As a solo artist, N. Scott Robinson brings a breadth of diverse experience in world percussion traditions to the stage and classroom. He has given clinics, panel discussions, and concerts on diverse styles of hand drumming for national and international organizations.

Plays regularly as a substitute and extra percussionist with The Philadelphia Orchestra and The Baltimore Symphony, and has performed throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and South America with these orchestras. Ms. Haringa also performs with The Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. She is a former member of The Phil-a-Rhythm Percussion Quartet and the Atmos Percussion Quartet. Ms. Haringa was on the faculty of The Settlement Music School in Philadelphia. She received her Master of Music Degree from Temple University.

Pablo Batista, a graduate of the Temple University class of 1985, has been a percussionist for over 31 years. In 2000, Pablo was the recipient of the distinguished Pew Fellowship Award in Folk Art. He also toured and recorded with the late Grover Washington, Jr., from 1985 until Grover’s passing in 1999.

Presently, Pablo is the percussionist for ” fill in later “. He has toured with five time Grammy recipient, Alicia Keys and performed with her live at the 2002 Grammy Awards.

Charlotte Blake Alston performs in venues throughout North America and abroad. Venues are wide and include the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Smithsonian Institution, the Kimmel Center, the Women of the World Festival in Cape Town, South Africa, prisons, detention centers and a refugee camp in northern Senegal.

She breathes life into traditional and contemporary stories from African and African American oral and cultural traditions. Her solo performances are often enhanced with traditional instruments such as djembe, mbira, shekere or the 21-stringed kora. In 1999, Charlotte began studying the kora and the West African history-telling traditions of Senegal, Mali, Guinea and Guinea Bissau. Her teacher was the highly respected Senegalese griot (jali), the late Djimo Kouyate. She has recently resumed her studies with Malian Virtuoso Yacouba Sissoko.

Charlotte was one of four Americans selected to perform and present at the first International Storytelling Field Conference in Ghana and was a featured artist at the Second Int’l Festival in Cape Town, South Africa. In the summer of 2005, she was the sole American selected to perform on a main stage at the STIMMEN: Voices Festival in Basel, Switzerland and The Cape Clear Island Festival in Ireland. In 1996, she was the Director of “In the Tradition…” the 14th National Festival of Black Storytelling. She is a recipient of the Zora Neale Hurston Award, the highest award bestowed by the National Association of Black Storytellers.

Members of the Philadelphia Orchestra percussion section (POPG*) performing seven world premiere recordings. Works by Jennifer Higdon, Rolando Morales-Matos, Charlotte Blake Alston, Don Liuzzi, and Tom Gauger. With Charlotte Blake Alston reading a commissioned narrative poem by Catalina Ríos. Executive Producer-Don Liuzzi, and Producer-Rodney Whittenberg.