Michael Schutz
Percussion
Phone (VCU): (804) 828-1166
Phone (Longwood): (434) 395-2510
E-mail: schutz@michaelschutz.net
www.michaelschutz.net
Michael Schutz is currently the director of percussion studies at Longwood University, in addition to his responsibilities at VCU, and was recently appointed chair of the Percussive Arts Society Music Technology Committee in recognition of his innovative blend of performance, teaching and research. In demand as a freelance artist, he performs frequently around the state with the Roanoke Symphony, Virginia Consort, Charlottesville Symphony, Oratorio Society, Lynchburg Symphony and Ash Lawn Summer Opera, and served as principal timpanist/percussionist for the 2006-07 season with Opera on the James. Previously, he has performed with the Altoona Symphony, Nittany Valley Symphony, Lakeside Brass and the Pennsylvania Centre Orchestra. Prior to his 2004 appointment at Longwood University, he taught at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp (Twin Lake, Mich.), Lake Braddock High School (Springfield, Va.) and the McHenry County Youth Orchestra program (Crystal Lake, Ill.).
Active in the promotion of new music, he recently co-commissioned “Time To Burn” from internationally renowned composer Judith Shatin, giving the premier at the 2006 Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Austin, Texas. Other world premiers include Peter Traub’s innovative “Groudloops: for Percussion and Internet” and chamber pieces by Brett Dietz, Mekara Chaipruk, Rob Reinhart and Peter Buck. Major solo performances include guest appearances with the University of Virginia and Penn State University percussion ensembles, a clinic at the 2005 Virginia/D.C. Day of Percussion, solo recital for the Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association State Convention and invited appearances at Project:Percussion (Richmond, Va.), Digitalis 2005 (Charlottesville, Va.), and the 2006 Alvin Lucier Festival.
A prize-winning researcher, his publications range from the role of visual information in music perception to the computer aided analysis of post-tonal music. In addition to presentations at national conferences such as the Association for Technology in Music Instruction and the Acoustical Society of America, Schutz has spoken abroad at the International Conference on Music and Gesture hosted by the Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester, UK), International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition (Bologna, Italy), Sound and Music Computing Workshop (Stockholm, Sweden) and the Society for Music Perception and Cognition (Montreal, Canada). He has published in both Percussive Notes and Percussive News on topics such as the Princeton Marimba Festival and CrossTalk, the University of Arizona’s cutting edge electronic percussion ensemble.
Schutz earned a dual Master of Music in percussion performance and music technology from Northwestern University and a B.M.A. in percussion performance, as well as a B.S. in computer science from Penn State University. His major teachers include marimba virtuoso Michael Burritt, Dan Armstrong, Gifford Howarth, Ken Harbison and Randy Eyles. He is grateful for the support provided by Sabian, whose products he is proud to endorse.
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