Brandon Podjasek
North Park University
Overview
Based out of Chicago, Brandon enjoys a wonderfully diverse career in percussion. He performs for Broadway in Chicago, having done such shows as “Wicked”, “Mary Poppins”, “Beautiful”, and others. He also performs at the historic “Paramount Theater” in Aurora IL, doing numerous Broadway shows there as well. Brandon is the principal timpani/percussion of the “Haymarket Opera Company”, Principal Percussion of The City Lights Orchestra, and a regular at AWR productions. With these ensembles, Brandon has had the pleasure of backing up such artists as: Sting, Eddie Vedder, Adam Levine, Andrew Bocelli, and many more. He’s appeared on television as a cast member of “The Big Leap” (2021, 20th Century Fox), and performed on PBS productions such as "A Christmas Carol: The Concert" (2013), "The 2015 Horatio Alger Awards", and “I am Ireland” (2020). Brandon has also done studio recording for the television show “Empire” (20th Century Fox).
Brandon attended the “Cleveland Institute of Music” earning a Bachelor of Music in Timpani and Percussion. While at CIM, Brandon studied with Paul Yancich, and Richard Weiner of the Cleveland Orchestra. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in “Applied Music Pedagogy” at Northeastern Illinois University.
Brandon is on faculty at North Park University where he teaches “Applied Percussion” and is the “Director or Pep Bands”.