FELIX REYES
Graduated with his Master’s in Percussion Performance with a concentration in Ethnomusicology from Bowling Green State University, Felix studied percussion under Dr. Daniel Piccolo and marimba specialist Dr. Isabelle Huang. Felix has also received his Bachelors of Music in Percussion Performance at the State University of New York at Fredonia under the direction of Dr. Karolyn Stonefelt and has received a Diploma in Marimba Performance at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Sengawa, Japan, where he studied with marimba legend/virtuoso Keiko Abe.
As a native to New York and abroad, Felix has performed all across NYC in venues such as National Sawdust, Kaufman Music Center,(most recently made his Lincoln Center debut in May 2018), has performed across various universities in the U.S. such as Indiana University, Princeton University, the University of Notre Dame, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Humboldt State University, the University of Georgia, and has performed internationally in various countries such as Japan, Germany, and El Salvador. He has performed for and collaborated with countless acclaimed international artists and composers including members of Sō Percussion, Third Coast Percussion, Ney Rosauro, Michael Colgrass, Dai Fujikura, Jennifer Hidgon, Kaoru Watanabe, and Katarzyna Mycka.
As a rising percussionist, Felix Reyes is always looking for ways to incorporate his chamber music training with his interest in progressive metal music and social activism. His primary ethnomusicological interests and research include studying Buddhism and Spiritual Music in East Asia, topics of empowering women music performance in the international heavy metal scene, and issues dealing with music and protest in American immigration laws.
His most recent research and performance highlights include being editor for Norskmusikforlag on publishing unseen works for percussion by Minoru Miki, performing a recent tour around NYC with Swiss percussionist Fabian Ziegler that concluded with their debut performance at Lincoln Center, and working on various commission projects by composers Wally Gunn, Alan Hankers, Michael Lanci, and Christos Hatzis.
Felix currently lives in Brooklyn NY, where he works as studio manager for Sandbox Percussion, is a freelance percussionist, and teaches a roster of percussion students privately in various capacities from Brooklyn and Long Island, NY. His current activities include preparing for an upcoming tour in Alicante, Spain with marimbist's Magdalena Myrczik (POL) and David Almagro Garcia (SPA) as trio Symmetria, preparing performances in Cologne, Germany with German percussionist Sebastian Gokus, and working on other Vic Firth premieres of new commissions by composers Alan Hankers (USA), Vincent Ho (CAN) and Alison Yun-Fei Jiang (CAN). Felix is a proud endorser of Vic Firth sticks and mallets.
