Garrett Arney
arx duo / Ensemble ACJW - United States

Overview

A highly valued chamber musician and gifted soloist, percussionist Garrett Arney has demonstrated a deep commitment to the developing genre of percussion music. Whether taking a fresh look at the established percussion repertoire, bringing to the stage groundbreaking new works from major composers, or exploring and pushing the boundaries of the genre in new and fascinating artistic directions, Garrett's overriding passion for the music is always in evidence. 

Garrett is currently the percussionist for Ensemble ACJW, performing in Carnegie Hall and at the Julliard School of Music with some of the top young professional musicians. In addition to these performances, the group organizes residencies at Skidmore College, as well as participating in many forms of outreach within New York City. Developing skills in performance as well as teaching, members of the group are trained to possess the abilities to create and be leaders of their fields. Garrett's orchestral experiences have led him to work with conductors such as James Conlon, Helmuth Rilling, Krysztof Penderecki, and Peter Oundjian.

Focusing in chamber music, Garrett and his duo partner Mari Yoshinaga have formed an exciting new percussion group known as arx duo, dedicated to developing the percussion repertoire and teaching a wide range of students. The duo has performed in Japan, Africa, and varies cities in the US, as well as participated as Ensemble in Residence in the 2014 Lake George Music Festival. In addition, Garrett has played with many other ensembles such as Sandbox Percussion Quartet, SO Percussion Quartet, and the Lunar Ensemble. He has performed with highly acclaimed soloists such as pianists Boris Berman and Lisa Moore, as well as percussionists Robert van Sice and Michael Burritt-both driving forces in the coming of age of the percussion genre.

Inspiring the creation of new works and opportunities for percussionists is of the utmost importance to Garrett. He was directly involved in the commissioning of Alejandro Vinao’s Book of Grooves for two marimbas, and performed the World Premiere in January of 2012 with percussionist Sao Aoki. In addition to this premiere, he has performed new works by Steve Reich, James Wood, John Luther Adams, and many promising young composers. Most recently, he collaborated in the recording of James Wood’s Cloud Polyphonies, a new work for percussion sextet.

Born and raised in Michigan, Garrett has a Bachelors Degree in music from Michigan State University where he studied with Gwen Dease, and a Master of Music from Peabody Conservatory as well as an Artist Diploma from Yale University, where he studied with the renowned performer and educator, Robert Van Sice.