Multi-percussionist Joseph Gramley's dynamic and exciting performances as a soloist have garnered critical acclaim and enthusiasm from emerging composers, percussion aficionados and first-time concert-goers alike. He is committed to bringing fresh and inventive compositions to a broad public, and each year he commissions and premieres a number of new works. His first solo recording, American Deconstruction, an expert rendition of five milestone works in multi-percussion's huge new modern repertoire, appeared in 2000 and was reissued in 2006. His second, Global Percussion, was released in 2005.
An invitation from Yo-Yo Ma in 2000 led Gramley to join Mr. Ma's Silk Road Ensemble. In addition to participating in the group's extended residencies in American and European cities, Gramley has toured with Mr. Ma and the Ensemble throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, performing in the world's finest concert halls. Along the way, Gramley has studied percussion styles and instruments from around the globe, collaborating with internationally renowned musicians from India, Iran, China, Japan, Korea, and Central Asia. He has performed on three top-selling albums with Yo-Yo Ma on the SonyBMG label and appeared with the Ensemble on the Grammy-nominated CD with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Transitions and Transformations (CSO Resound, 2008). Most recently, he can be heard on the Silk Road’s CD Off the Map (Harmonia Mundi).
In October 2008, Gramley and Yo-Yo Ma jointly appeared as guest artists with the Nashville Symphony.
In addition to his solo and Silk Road work, as well as his frequent appearances with chamber groups and orchestras, Gramley performs with the acclaimed British organist Clive Driskill-Smith; the pair's first recording, Beaming Music, was issued in 2008.
Joseph Gramley has performed with: the Metropolitan Opera (on stage with Placido Domingo), Pierre-Laurent Aimard (U.S. tour), Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, New York City Opera, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (soloist), Seattle Symphony, Orchestre de Lyon, The Knights (MATA and Dresden Festivals), Dawn Upshaw (U.S. tour), David Robertson (Carnegie Hall), Mitsuko Uchida and Richard Goode (Marlboro Music Festival), Spoleto Festival (soloist, chamber music and orchestra), Martha Graham Dance Company, Merce Cunningham Dance Company, New York City Ballet, Eos Orchestra, Renee Fleming (in recital), Glen Velez (US tour), Keiko Abe (PASIC), Aretha Franklin, Elton John (at Radio City Music Hall and on worldwide TV and DVD), Wu Tong, Sandeep Das, Wu Man, and numerous others. Productions on Broadway include: Miss Saigon, Jekyll and Hyde, Phantom of the Opera, Caroline or Change, and The Color Purple. Gramley's compositions have been performed at The Juilliard School, Rhode Island School of Design, The Museum Reitberg (Zurich) The Art Institute of Chicago, and Queens College.
Born in 1970, Gramley grew up in Oregon and was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts while a senior at the Interlochen Arts Academy in 1988. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Michigan where he was a student of Michael Udow and Salvatore Rabbio and was a recipient of the Albert A. Stanley Medal. He has also attended the Tanglewood Institute and Salzburg Mozarteum.
Gramley made his concerto debut with the Houston Symphony Orchestra after winning their National Soloist Competition, and made his solo debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in 1994. He did his graduate studies at The Juilliard School in New York where he studied with Gordon Gottlieb and Daniel Druckman and received both the Goodman and the Khomanoff scholarships. Upon finishing his graduate studies, Gramley performed and recorded with the Ethos Percussion Group throughout the U. S. and Europe.
He is director The Juilliard Summer Percussion Seminar, an intensive program for high-school students held annually at Lincoln Center in New York.
