David Constantine

David Constantine's Biography

Dr. David Constantine, a native Oregonian, is currently a percussionist with a prominent United States military ensemble. His prior positions include: Percussionist & Assistant Principal Timpanist of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, Principal Timpanist of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Principal Timpanist of the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, and Percussionist with the Owensboro Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with the Eugene and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestras and under the batons of Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Marin Alsop, Jack Everly, Giancarlo Guerrero, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Daniel Hege, Kevin Noe, James Paul, Murry Sidlin, Ron Spigelman, Leonard Slatkin, Stephen Smith, John Williams, and Gerhardt Zimmerman.

In addition to his orchestral playing, Dr. Constantine is a prolific solo and chamber percussionist. He has been awarded top prizes in international competition both in the United States and Western Europe. As a solo timpanist he has premiered works by Heinz Holliger and Gilles Schuehmacher. As a chamber performer he has taken part in the premiere performances of David Crumb's Hearing Bells and David Johnson's The Oregon Variations, both in 2005. Mr. Constantine can be heard with the Oregon Percussion Ensemble in a performance of Meyer Kupferman's Percussion Symphony on Soundspells records.

As an educator, Dr. Constantine teaches percussion at the College of Southern Maryland, and is Caption Head of marching percussion at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas. Most recently, David served on the faculty of the 2011 Ithaca Summer Music Academy. He was previously an Associate Instructor of Percussion at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana. He regularly teaches percussion camps and masterclasses, and is in high demand as a clinician at public schools and universities nationwide.

Dr. Constantine holds a Doctor of Music degree in Percussion Performance from Indiana University. He received his Masters and Bachelors degrees from the University of Oregon where he was the drummer of the elite Green Garter Band, an audition only, full-tuition scholarship band who performed nationwide. His primary teachers include Charles Dowd, John Tafoya, Anthony Cirone, Gerald Carlyss, Kevin Bobo, Steve Houghton, and Michael Spiro.

David is proud to be a performing artist and clinician for Innovative Percussion, Evans, Sabian and Yamaha.

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David Constantine