Thad Anderson is a Professor of Music at the University of Central Florida where he coordinates the Percussion Studies program, teaches applied lessons, and directs both the UCF Percussion Ensemble and the New Music Ensemble. Joining the UCF faculty in 2009, Anderson also teaches courses in music technology and oversees the concert audio engineering team. His career blends performance, pedagogy, and technology, with a strong emphasis on contemporary music and composition.

An accomplished solo, chamber, and orchestral musician, Anderson frequently tours and makes appearances across the United States and as far as Asia. He is active in the Percussive Arts Society community where he currently serves as President of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee and contributes to the various publications. He serves on the faculty and at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and oversees percussion activities with the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra. He is also a frequent evaluator at the Music For All National Percussion Festival. Dr. Anderson holds degrees from The University of Central Florida and The University of Texas at Austin. Anderson plays Yamaha instruments, Vic Firth implements, Zildjian cymbals, and Remo drumheads.

Born in Białystok, Poland, Marcelina Suchocka is the Principal Percussionist of the Sarasota Orchestra. She enjoys a diverse career spanning orchestral, chamber, new music, and solo performance. A former fellow of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Marcelina has performed and toured with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, The Florida Orchestra, and the Utah Symphony.

A passionate educator, Marcelina has presented clinics across the United States, including at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, and spends her summers on faculty at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. She is a founding member of Excelsis Percussion Quartet and Pathos Trio, ensembles that have commissioned numerous cutting-edge works. Marcelina also performs regularly with Sarasota’s ensemblenewSRQ.

Peter White is a solo and chamber percussionist from Tacoma, Washington. An early interest in piano and drum set developed into an attraction to mallet and multiple percussion. During his undergraduate degree at the University of Oregon with Pius Cheung, he had his orchestral debut with the Eugene Symphony, as well as his debut as a soloist, presenting Iannis Xenakis’ Rebonds b at the 2014 Oregon Bach Festival. Throughout his studies with Svetoslav Stoyanov at the University of Miami from 2015-2016, he performed with the Nu Deco Ensemble in collaborations featuring artists such as Andy Akiho, Brika, and Project Trio. Peter studied with Eduardo Leandro at SUNY Stony Brook, graduating with his Doctorate in 2022.

Peter was a semi-finalist at the TROMP International Percussion Competition in 2016, where he met Joe DeMarco and began to build percussion duo repertoire together. The following year, Peter performed with Stoyanov and three University of Miami colleagues on World Music Day at Kolorac Hall in Belgrade, Serbia as the percussion group Elemental Culture. In 2018, Peter officially joined with DeMarco as membranophŌn, testing their musical partnership by advancing to the semi-final round of the International Percussion Competition Luxembourg. The following year, Peter had his Carnegie Hall debut playing with the Children’s Orchestra Society in a concert featuring violinist Ray Chen.

Since 2020, Peter has been a substitute percussionist for the two percussion and piano group Pathos Trio, premiering four new commissions with the ensemble and accompanying them to their 2022 and 2023 Avaloch Farms Music Institute residencies.

Also in 2020, Peter rejoined his University of Miami colleagues as the percussion quintet Pneuma, who performed at the Katowice Miasto Ogrodów for the International Festival of Young Winners of Music Competition in Katowice, Poland in 2021.

Since 2018, Peter has been working with Kathryn Vetter (clarinets) and Alina Tamborini (soprano) as the contemporary chamber trio Sputter Box, focusing their efforts on expanding the repertoire for their unique instrumentation. The trio recently performed six shows at the Minnesota Fringe Festival in Minneapolis, MN.