Tom Freer
Coordinator of Percussion Studies

Tom Freer is Assistant Principal Timpanist and Section Percussion with The Cleveland Orchestra since 1991. Prior to his position in Cleveland, Tom served as Principal Timpanist with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Principal Timpanist with The Alabama Symphony and Principal Percussion/ Assistant Timpani with the Norrkoping Symphony in Norrkoping, Sweden. He is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music where he was the last timpani student accepted by Cloyd E. Duff and has also studied with Richard Weiner, Paul Yancich, Jim Atwood and Mario Gaetano. An active artist and clinician for Adams, Pearl, Zildjian Cymbals and Freer Percussion Products, Tom has done clinics and masterclasses throughout the United States and Europe including Yale University, Peabody Conservatory, Royal Stockholm Conservatory, Chosen Vale and of course the Duff Masterclass which is the longest running timpani seminar in history now in its 31st year. Tom has also been awarded two patents on percussion instrument designs, is the owner of Freer Percussion Products, and is head of the percussion department at Cleveland State University where his students have achieved considerable success as orchestral timpanists and percussionists over the past twenty years. He has recorded extensively and toured with some of the greatest conductors of our time, all over the world. Tom can be heard on over twenty Cleveland Orchestra recordings on the London/Decca and Deutsche Grammophon labels.

Bandleader, drummer and percussionist Bill Ransom is a musical chameleon - equally at home with classical, jazz, R&B and rock. With a style described as “physical, stirring, demanding, rare and personal,” Bill has toured and recorded with leading artists including Patrice Rushen, Beth Hart, Marion Meadows, Cecil Bridgewater, Diane Reeves, Mary Wilson, and James Newton. He spent much of the 90’s on the road with contemporary saxophonist Najee and R&B crooner Gerald LeVert and was featured percussionist on Mr. LeVert’s solo debut, “Private Line.” Bill has appeared a number of theatrical productions including “Love, Janis”, under the musical direction of Big Brother & the Holding Company’s Sam Andrew who noted “¼When Bill Ransom plays the drums he looks as if he is made of rubber and he makes every time special because he acts it out.” 

For the past several years Bill has directed “Jazz Meets Hip Hop” for the Tri-C JazzFest in Cleveland, Ohio and is a consultant to both the Shaker Heights school system and Cleveland Music School Settlement. His debut CD, Generations, was released nationwide in November, 2005 on Bongo Time Records

Korean percussionist Ji Hye Jung burst into the spotlight during the 2006-2007 season with consecutive First Prizes at the 2006 Linz International Marimba Competition and the 2007 Yale Gordon Concerto Competition.  At twenty-four years old she is already sought after around the world as a soloist and teacher of marimba, percussion, and chamber music.  She currently serves on the faculty of Cleveland State University and is endorsed by Vic Firth sticks and mallets, Pearl Drums, and Adams Percussion Instruments.

Ji Hye frequently works with many of the top artists in the field – performing as a soloist with renowned conductors including David Robertson and Hans Graff and commissioning composers Alejandro Vinao, Paul Lansky, and Lukas Ligeti.  Recently, she has presented masterclasses and solo recitals at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany, the Grachtenfestival in Holland, the Seoul Arts Center in Korea, the Beijing Central Conservatory in China, and Universities throughout the United States.  She has also served as faculty at the Peabody Preparatory in Baltimore and the International Katarzyna Mycka Marimba Academy in Poland.

As a student of Robert van Sice, Ji Hye has completed a Bachelor’s degree from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and is currently finishing a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music.  She has attended many of the top festivals and worked with conductors Christoph Eschenbach, Leonard Slatkin, and James Conlon and composers Martin Bresnick and Ezra Laderman.  Her Vic Firth website, which includes video clips of performances and interviews, can be accessed at:

www.vicfirth.com/artists/jung.html

Feza Zweifel maintains an active schedule as a versatile performer and arranger. Prior to graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music, Mr. Zweifel appeared frequently with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Philadelphia Opera and Concerto Soloists. Mr. Zweifel appears regularly as an extra or substitute percussionist/timpanist with the Cleveland Orchestra, having toured and recorded with them extensively. He has been a guest assistant principal timpanist of the Boston Symphony, NY Philharmonic, and guest principal timpanist of the LA Philharmonic, National Arts Center Orchestra of Canada, and has played with the orchestras of Indianapolis, Colorado, Columbus, Alabama, Ft. Wayne, Florida, Florida West Coast, Toledo, Charleston(SC), and Sarasota Opera. He also serves as principal percussionist of Opera Cleveland, the Blossom Festival Orchestra, and principal timpanist of the Blossom Festival Band. Mr. Zweifel has also participated in the music festivals of Aspen, LA Philharmonic Institute, Tanglewood Music Center, National Repertory Orchestra, Breckenridge Music Institute, Colorado Music Festival, and Ojai, CA. He is co-founder of Burning River Brass; a founding member of Proteus 7 and has arranged extensively for both ensembles. His arrangements can be heard in concert as well as on the nine CDs that have been released between the two groups. As an educator, Mr. Zweifel has served on the faculties of Youngstown State University, Case Western Reserve University and has given masterclasses at the University of Colorado, Southern Methodist University, Texas Tech, Penn State, the Tanglewood Institute and the Tanglewood Music Center. He will be joining the faculty at Cleveland State University in the fall of 2010.