Ingrid Gordon

Percussionist Ingrid Gordon is the founder and artistic director of Percussia. She made her marimba solo debut with the Chicago Symphony at age 18 and has spent her career involved in classical music—from traditional orchestral settings to contemporary chamber contexts—while simultaneously immersing herself in the study of numerous world music traditions and instruments.

Over the years, Ingrid has played the Shona mbira of Zimbabwe and the fontomfrom drums of Ghana; performed Javanese gamelan and Mexican marimba music; studied Guinean balafon and North Indian tabla; and developed a particular fondness for Jewish klezmer xylophone. She has traveled as far afield as Indonesia and West Africa in pursuit of new sounds, and has the instrument collection to prove it.

As a freelance musician, Ingrid has performed at all of the major New York venues, including Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, and Symphony Space. She has played with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Albany Symphony, and the Rochester Philharmonic, among others, and has participated in the Spoleto USA Festival. She is percussion chair of the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players Orchestra, and has performed in the pit of a variety of Broadway and off-Broadway shows, including Gypsy, Spider-Man, and Tamar of the River. As a recording artist, she can be heard on the Centaur, Col Legno, Signum Classics, and Neuma Records labels; and she has been a teaching artist for the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall. She is currently on the faculty of LaGuardia Community College.

Ingrid holds a DMA from the University of Illinois, an MM from Northwestern University, and a BM from the Eastman School of Music, where she was awarded the prestigious performer’s certificate. Her teachers include John Beck, Patricia Dash, and Tom Siwe.