Tom is the 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 Principal 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. Tom Freer is the President and CEO of Freer Percussion LLC, an independent orchestral mallet and accessory company. Tom has also been awarded three US patents on percussion designs relative to orchestral snare drums and mallets. An active artist and clinician for Remo, Adams, Pearl, Zildjian Cymbals, and Freer Percussion Products. Tom has done clinics and masterclasses throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe including Yale University, Peabody Conservatory, Royal Stockholm Conservatory, Chosen Vale, New World Symphony, TON, PASIC 1999/2004, and the Duff Masterclass which is the longest-running timpani seminar in history. Formerly the head of the Percussion Department at Cleveland State University where his students achieved considerable success as orchestral timpanists and percussionists over the course of 26 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 30 Cleveland Orchestra recordings on the London/Decca and Deutsche Grammophon labels.