Michael Truesdell

Director of Percussion Program, Lecturer

Overview

Percussionist Mike Truesdell is the third successive “Mike” to be the percussion faculty at Cornell University (previous faculty members were the amazing Mike Compitello and Mike Sparhuber)! Mike Truesdell has performed with the New York City Ballet, International Contemporary Ensemble, Lucerne Festival Ensemble conducted by Pierre Boulez, and with members of the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, Chamber Music Society, and Alarm Will Sound, among others. Additionally, he has recorded with Renée Fleming, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra (Grammy® nominated), Charles Wuorinen, Gil Evans Project (Grammy® nominated), as well as co-producing the Zeltsman Marimba Festival double-disc of Intermediate Masterworks for Marimba, where he first met Cornell University’s illustrious emeritus professor Steven Stucky! 

As an educator, Mike is also the Assistant Professor of Percussion at Ithaca College, and has been on the faculties of Juilliard Pre-College, University of Northern Colorado, Rutgers University and Columbia University. During the summer months, he can be found at the Interlochen Arts Camp, Juilliard Summer Percussion Seminar, Zeltsman Marimba Festival, the nief-norf Summer Festival, the Composer’s Conference, among others. A native of Wisconsin, he attended Lawrence University and moved to New York to study at The Juilliard School (M.M. ‘11 and D.M.A. ‘16), where his primary teachers were Dan Druckman, Greg Zuber, Markus Rhoten, and Gordon Gottlieb. More information about Mike can be found at www.miketruesdell.com.

MUSIC Courses - Fall 2024

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