DR. IAN ANTONIO performs new and experimental music frequently in a wide variety of ensembles and locations. In addition to his role in Talujon, Ian is a founding member of the two percussion and two piano ensemble Yarn/Wire. The group is a creative force in the contemporary chamber music world, concertizing widely and working with many of composition's rising stars. He is also a long time member of the difficult-to-categorize trio Zs, with whom he has toured the world and recorded extensively. Ian is a core player in the composition and chamber music collective Wet Ink, an organization focused on creating, promoting, and organizing adventurous American music. Ian is also a frequent collaborator with the avant-garde dramatic company Theatre of a Two-Headed Calf.

Ian is the director of the Norwalk Youth Percussion Ensemble and oversees the organization's percussion activities. In addition to presently cultivating an active private studio, he is has been on faculty at the 92nd Street Y, Henry Street Settlement, and I.S. 291 is Bushwick, Brooklyn. He has recorded for the Nonesuch, Kairos, Warp, Tzadik, Carrier, Social Registry, Northern-Spy, and Three One G record labels, among others.

Ian was born in 1981 and grew up in Albany, NY, studying percussion with Richard Albagli and performing with the Empire State Youth Orchestra and Percussion Ensemble. He then moved to New York city to attend the Manhattan School of Music and study with James Preiss, Duncan Patton, Christopher Lamb, Eric Charleston, and Claire Heldrich. Ian completed his studies with Eduardo Leandro at Stony Brook University where he received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree. He has also attended the Tanglewood Music Center and Yellow Barn festivals.

DR. DOMINIC DONATO is active as a percussion soloist, chamber musician, composer and teacher.

As a soloist Dominic has performed in New York, Rome, Amsterdam, and in Paris where he gave the French premiere of Iannis Xenakis' Percussion Concerto, Omega. He was invited to the Donaueschingen Music Festival to premiere James Tenney's Song 'n' Dance for Harry Partch with the SWR Symphony Orchestra and he was featured soloist for Iannis Xenakis' Ais for Amplified Baritone, Percussion Soloist and Large Orchestra at the Gulbenkian Festival in Lisbon, Portugal.

In May 2001 Dominic presented his first concert of all tamtam music (TAMTAM I) which became the inspiration for his "Music for Tamtams" Project. This first concert featured James Tenney's Having Never Written a Note for Percussion and two versions of John Cage's One4 along with new pieces by Helen Lee and himself. Since that concert he has commissioned and performed a number of compositions featuring tamtams from a number of very talented composers including Peter Jarvis, Stuart Jones, Elizabeth Hoffman, Eric Moe, Steven Ricks and Barbara White. In 2008 Dominic released "METALMORPHOSIS," the first CD of his "Music for Tamtams" project, on Capstone Records. Upcoming premieres include new works written for Dominic by Arthur Kreiger, Seung-Ah Oh, and Xi Wang.

In 2007 Dominic was selected by Meet the Composer as one of eight "Soloist Champions" in honor of his continuing commitment to new music and the solo percussion repertoire.

Dr. Donato is Chair of the Percussion Department and director of the Contemporary Ensemble at the Conservatory of Music, Purchase College, SUNY. He has been staff percussionist for the Composers Conference at Wellesley College for over 20 years. For more information please visit: www.musicfortamtams.com and the Purchase College website: www.purchase.edu.

Percussionist TOM KOLOR specializes in 20th and 21st century music, and holds a Master's degree from the Juilliard School. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the University at Buffalo.

Mr. Kolor appears throughout the United States and Europe as a member of Talujon Percussion, Manhattan Sinfonietta, Ensemble 21, Sospeso, American Modern Ensemble and Newband. In addition, he is a frequent guest of such ensembles as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, New York New Music Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, Continuum, Da Capo Chamber Players, Group for Contemporary Music, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

As a soloist, he has given dozens of premieres by such composers as Milton Babbitt, John Zorn, Wayne Peterson, Tania Leon, and Jerome Kitzke. He has recorded for Bridge, New World, Albany, Capstone, Innova, Wergo, Naxos, CRI, Koch, Tzadik, North/South Consonance, and Deutsche Grammophon labels.

For more information on the University at Buffalo visit: www.music.buffalo.edu

Percussionist MICHAEL LIPSEY has performed at festivals in Bali, London, Lisbon, Madrid, Berlin, Mexico City, Taipei, Macao, Tokyo, La Jolla, New York, Moscow, Bogota and France. Michael is the founding member of Talujon Percussion and has also performed with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, Steve Reich, Bang on a Can, Tan Dun, New York New Music Ensemble and Riverside Symphony. He has recorded for Sony Records, Red Poppy Records, Nonesuch, Albany, Capstone and Mode. Michael has performed throughout the world and given master classes at numerous schools including the Juilliard School of Music and California School of the Arts.

Michael has also worked with many musicians from around the world, most recently including Gamelan Dharma Swara, a Balinese gamelan located in New York City. He performed with DS at the first American gamelan at the PKB in Denpasar, Bali. He has worked with musicians Subash Chandran, Ganesh Kumar, Glen Velez, Carlos Gomez, Antonio Hart, Roland Vasquez, and River Guerguerian. His book and solo CD contains recently commissioned works for solo hand drums by Jason Eckardt, River Guerguerian, Mathew Rosenblum, Arthur Kreiger, Eric Moe, Dominic Donato, David Cossin and David Rakowski. The book is available at :http://store.calabresebrothersmusic.com/08-00209.html and the recordings at: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/michaellipsey.

Michael is a full-time Professor at the Aaron Copland School of Music at CUNY, Queens College and Director of the Percussion Program and the New Music Ensemble.

MATT WARD is dedicated to performing and commissioning new music and has been cited by the New York Times as "a fine soloist". With a particular interest in chamber music, he is a principal player with the Argento Chamber Players, Talujon, and is also the co-founder of the percussion trio Timetable. Mr. Ward also performs regularly with groups such as the Manhattan Sinfonietta, the American Modern Ensemble, Associated Solo Artists, Albany Symphony and the Riverside Symphony. Mr. Ward was the recipient of the Ridley-Tree Fellowship at the Music Academy of the West in 1998, and in 1999 he participated in the Tanglewood Music Center under the direction of Seiji Ozawa and George Benjamin and returned the following year for the American Premiere of Pierre Boulez's Sur Incises at the 60th Anniversary TMC Alumni Concert. Recent projects include the American Premiere of Philippe Hurel's percussion concerto at Merkin Hall, and the premieres of two new works for percussion by Elizabeth Hoffman.

Matt Ward began studying conducting as the student director of the Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players and in residence at the Bang On a Can Summer Music Festival. Since then, he has premiered new works by Phillipe Manoury, Lawrence Moss, Ross Bauer, Meyer Kupferman, Barbara White, Sebastian Armoza and many other young composers. He is also a regular guest conductor with the International Contemporary Ensemble and Ensemble Inc.

Mr. Ward holds a BM degree from the Manhattan School of Music and a MM degree from SUNY Stony Brook, where he is currently a Candidate for his DMA. He is on faculty at Queens College and at the Bloomingdale School of Music where he directs the percussion ensemble and conducts student and faculty ensembles. Through organizations such as the 92nd Street Y, Westchester Philharmonic, and Marquis Studios Mr. Ward has worked with elementary school children throughout New York City and the surrounding area. He can be heard on the recording labels Argo, Newport Classics, Soundspell, and Albany Records.