Percussion
Michael Werner is a percussionist in the New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and performs with the Metropolitan Chamber Ensemble. As a member of the Met Orchestra he has toured North America, Europe, and Japan. He is an active clinician, coaching at the New World Symphony, Oberlin Percussion Institute, Cleveland Institute of Music, University of Toronto, and Manhattan School of Music. He has been a faculty member at the Mannes College of Music since 2001.
Mr. Werner began his professional career at age 16 with a two-year stint as drummer for the Tim Rodgers' Western Union Swing Band in Pittsburgh. He won his first major orchestral position as principal percussionist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1992. Mr. Werner has also been a member of the Canton Ohio Symphony and the Pennfield Symphony in Rochester, New York, and has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Erie Philharmonic. He has recorded with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Summit Brass, and is a Zildjian artist.
As a student, Mr. Werner spent three years at the Eastman School of Music, where he was awarded the George Eastman and Marshall Seeman scholarships. He also studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and participated in the National Repertory Orchestra and Aspen Music Festival and School.
An alumnus of the Music Academy of the West, Mr. Werner has been a faculty member since 2005.