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LA Music Festival

Originally percussion-focused, TAPS now welcomes pianists, string players, and percussionists to explore the music of Steve Reich, Béla Bartók, Andy Akiho, and beyond.

LA Music Festival 

| California State University Long Beach (CSULB)

Step into two thrilling weeks of percussion exploration at the TAPS LA Music Festival. This year, we welcome 20 talented fellows for an intensive program filled with performances, masterclasses, group lessons, chamber music coaching, and a mock audition. This year's festival will be larger than ever and will feature Andy Akiho as our Artist-in-Residence, giving fellows the extraordinary chance to perform side by side with Andy at our end of festival concert. After two weeks of immersive experiences and mentorship, fellows depart with developed technique, new inspiration, and gear to advance their musical journey.


Tuition for the full program is $2,250, which includes on-campus housing and meals for two weeks.


At TAPS, we’re committed to providing a vibrant, immersive environment where fellows can grow, experiment, and connect with other musicians from around the world. Our mission drives us to make this experience accessible, inclusive, and transformative for every participant. Limited financial assistance is available and will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

2024_04_29 Music for 18 Musicians at NWS by Alex Markow-1791 copy_edited.jpg

LA Music Festival 

June 15–30, California State University  Long Beach (CSULB)

2024_04_29 Music for 18 Musicians at NWS by Alex Markow-1791 copy_edited.jpg

Join us for an unforgettable experience of music, mentorship, and community!

  • Steve Reich’s iconic Music for 18 Musicians

  • Acclaimed composer and percussionist Andy Akiho as Artist-in-Residence

  • Mock Audition prizes from Majestic, Dragonfly Percussion, Zildjian Cymbals, Vic Firth, Marimba One, and Black Swamp Percussion

​

All admitted fellows receive full fellowships covering tuition, housing in CSULB dorms, and meals on campus—thanks to our generous donors.

An administrative fee applies upon acceptance.

​

In addition to performances and immersive experiences, the festival features a distinguished faculty who lead a series of masterclasses and chamber music coachings. Fellows also participate in a mock audition, with all participants receiving new gear to go home with. At TAPS, we are committed to equity and access, ensuring that the transformative experiences we offer are available to students of all backgrounds, regardless of financial circumstances.

Apply for Instrument

Requirements:     

​

1. One page artistic resume

2. Audition video: View audition requirements here

3. Application fee 

​

Application Deadline and Fees:

November 1st - December 31st:  $70

January 1st - January 31st:  $90

February 1st - March 3rd:  $110

​

Videos can be in one take or separate takes. If in separate takes, please put all files into one video and submit only one link.

Please upload your video to a cloud service such as YouTube, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. and double check the link is not private.

Applications Closed

Apply for Internship

Requirements:     

 

1. Resume 

2. Statement of Intention: Short video explaining why the internship program interests you and what you would like to learn from it

​​ 

​​All applications are due March 3rd, 2025 at 11:59pm PST.

Results will be announced mid March.

​

​Note: Fellows who have been involved in TAPS for two or more years are no longer eligible to apply.

Applications Closed

2025 Festival Highlights Include:

Repertoire

  • Xylophone

    Copland

    Appalachian Spring

    5 after [48]- 4 after [49]

    Instrument

    Composer

    Piece

    Part

    Marimba

    Bach

    Solo of Choice

    Minimum 2 Min

    Glockenspiel

    Mozart

    Magic Flute

    Finale

    Marimba

    Contemporary

    Solo of Choice

    Mvt. III D-E / 

    Mvt. IV P-R

    Snare Drum

    Niesen

    Clarinet Concerto

    10 after [3]-[4]/

    29-9 after [32]

    Glockenspiel

    Shostakovich

    Symphony No. 10

    [98]-end

    Tambourine

    Dvorak

    Carnival Overture

    beg-4 before [C]

    Cymbals

    Dvorak

    Scherzo Capriccioso

    [Q]-end

  • 1. Movement from any standard major concerto of choice
        i.e. Schumann, Dvorak, Haydn

    2. Optional: Chamber music recording - Highly encouraged

  • 1. Movement from any standard major concerto of choice
        i.e. Schumann, Dvorak, Haydn

    2. Optional: Chamber music recording - Highly encouraged

  • 1. Movement from any standard major concerto of choice
        i.e. Schumann, Dvorak, Haydn

    2. Optional: Chamber music recording - Highly encouraged

Faculty for TAPS LA 2025

Ted Atkatz is a renowned performer, educator, recording artist, and composer. He is the former Principal Percussionist and Assistant Timpanist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Ted now resides in Los Angeles, where he is the Director of Percussion Studies at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University at Long Beach. He also is the Director of the Percussion Department at the Colburn School and is the Director of the Colburn Contemporary Ensemble. His non-profit organization, The Ted Atkatz Percussion Seminar (TAPS) has been held around the world, and this past summer hosted the TAPS LA Music Festival with public performances around the Los Angeles area. His college studies began at Boston University and then New England Conservatory, where he studied with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. After receiving a master’s degree at NEC, Ted went on to Temple University to study with Alan Abel of the Philadelphia Orchestra. As an active studio musician, Ted has performed on over 70 motion picture soundtracks, including “Frozen,” “The Jungle Book” and “Star Wars Episode IX.” Ted has performed with the Atlanta Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony, and the Santa Barbara Symphony. Ted is also an active singer and songwriter. His band NYCO has released three albums: Two (2005), Realize (2008), and Future Imperfect (2012). NYCO performed with the Alabama Symphony in 2018.
Ted Atkatz
Former Principal Percussion
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Percussion

Bio 

Andy Akiho is a “trailblazing” (Los Angeles Times) Pulitzer Prize finalist and seven-time GRAMMY®-nominated composer whose bold works unravel intricate and unexpected patterns while surpassing preconceived boundaries of classical music. Called "increasingly in-demand” by The New York Times, Akiho has earned international acclaim for his large-scale works that emphasize the natural theatricality of live performance. He is the only composer to be nominated for a GRAMMY® in the Best Contemporary Classical Composition category in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Recent highlights include the world premieres of several major works, most notably Nisei — a sweeping new concerto for cellist Jeffrey Zeigler — which headlined this year’s Sun Valley Music Festival. Another standout: Sculptures, a groundbreaking, triple GRAMMY®-nominated work for Omaha Symphony honoring renowned visual artist Jun Kaneko. Finally, BeLonging, a powerful new collaboration with Imani Winds with strong political undertones, also made highly acclaimed live and recorded debuts, receiving two GRAMMY® nominations. Equally at home writing chamber music and symphonies, Akiho is the Oregon Symphony’s 2023-2024 composer-in-residence. Other recent engagements include commissioned premieres by the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony, China Philharmonic, Guangzhou Symphony, Oregon Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Music@Menlo, The Industry, and a sold-out run of “Seven Pillars” at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, choreographed by Benjamin Millepied and performed by Sandbox Percussion and LA Dance Project. Akiho has been recognized via many prestigious awards and organizations including the Rome Prize, American Academy of Arts and Letters, Lili Boulanger Memorial Prize, Harvard University Fromm Commission, Barlow Endowment, New Music USA, and Chamber Music America. His compositions have been featured by organizations such as Bang on a Can, American Composers Forum, The Intimacy of Creativity in Hong Kong, and the Heidelberg Festival. An active steel pannist, Akiho has performed his works with Imani Winds, the LA Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella Series, the Berlin Philharmonic’s Scharoun Ensemble, the International Drum Festival in Taiwan, and more. Akiho’s recordings No One To Know One, The War Below, Seven Pillars, Oculus, Sculptures, and BeLonging feature brilliantly crafted compositions inspired by his primary instrument, the steel pan. As a pannist, Akiho has a deeply physical relationship with playing, which undoubtedly informs his compositions. His style is further shaped by his nontraditional path as a composer: having spent most of his 20s playing steel pan by ear in Trinidad and New York City, Akiho only began writing music at age 28. Still, these social and musical roots remain foundational. Akiho frequently composes into the late hours at coffee shops, nightclubs, and restaurants, taking breaks to get to know those around him. Similarly, Akiho develops relationships with his collaborators, as he writes for people, not instruments. Akiho was born in 1979 in Columbia, SC, and is currently based in Portland, OR and New York City.
Andy Akiho
Artist/Composer in Residence
​
Percussion

Bio 

An LA native, Matthew Howard is Principal Percussionist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the same orchestra he grew up watching. Previously, he was a Fellow with the New World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. He has performed with such groups as the San Francisco Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, and Boston Ballet. He also has been a member in the National Repertory Orchestra, Verbier Festival Orchestra, and Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. Howard began playing a drum set at the age of 15 and played in his high school jazz band. By 18, he found himself enthralled with the world of percussion and started studying with local percussionist John Magnussen. While studying with Magnussen, he also studied with recording legend Emil Richards on jazz vibraphone, Judy Chilnick on timpani, and Jerry Steinholtz on hand percussion. After a year of community college, he transferred to the USC Thornton School of Music, studying with Erik Forrester. The following year, Joseph Pereira and Jim Babor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic took over as faculty at USC. After graduating, Howard studied with Will Hudgins of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the New England Conservatory.
Matt Howard
Principal Percussion
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Percussion

Bio 

Joseph Pereira (1974) enjoys a multi-faceted career as a timpanist/percussionist, composer, conductor, and teacher. His work in all areas has been widely hailed for his creativity and virtuosity, and has been profiled in feature articles in both The New York Times (2006) and The LA Times in 2012 and 2015. In 2015 Pereira was featured on the PBS series, “Craft in America”. As a composer, Pereira’s music has been described as “restless yet lucidly textured” (The New York Times), “striking atmospherics of colour” (The Guardian), and “one sonic surprise after another” (The Los Angeles Times). His works have been commissioned and performed worldwide, most notably by the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Gustavo Dudamel, the Singapore Symphony, the New York Philharmonic Chamber Series, the Miro Quartet, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, percussionist Colin Currie, French Ensemble TM+, and the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet. In 2013 the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet recorded his piece Repousse’ (2009), which was nominated for three 2013 Grammy Awards. The following year LAPQ recorded Pereira’s Mallet Quartet (2013), and it was rated “Best of 2014 Classical Music” from itunes. Pereira’s works can be heard on, Sono Luminus, Yarlung Records, Electrum Duo, and New Focus Recordings. His works are published by Bachovich Music in the US and Black Dot Press in the UK. Pereira, has been the Principal Timpanist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 2008. As a versatile performer, Pereira is in demand as an orchestral timpanist, and a studio recording percussionist. He regularly appears as a solo percussionist in the orchestra’s “Green Umbrella” new music series and has also conducted his music and other world premieres on the orchestra’s chamber series. In Los Angeles, he also can be found in the recording studios and can be heard on many major motion pictures. Previously Pereira was a member of the New York Philharmonic, from 1997 to 2008, as a timpanist and percussionist. His line of signature timpani mallets by JGPercussion are sold worldwide. Joseph runs the percussion studio at the Thornton School of Music at USC and is also on the faculty of the Music Academy of the West, and the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo Japan. He was previously on faculty at the Juilliard School from 2005-2013. Please visit josephpereiramusic.com
Joe Pereira
Principal Timpani
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Percussion

Bio 

A percussionist and conductor of great versatility and virtuosity, George Nickson has been hailed by The New York Times as “a performer handling his role with ease and flair.” Prior to Dallas, Nickson served as Principal Percussionist of the Sarasota Orchestra from 2012-2019. He received the Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School where he studied with Daniel Druckman and completed his undergraduate studies at the New England Conservatory with Will Hudgins. In addition to his position with the Sarasota Orchestra, Nickson has had the privilege of performing with the orchestras of Boston, Detroit, Washington D.C., Toronto, Honolulu and San Francisco. Recent highlights include world premiere concerto performances at ensembleNEWSRQ in Sarasota, Florida and at Tanglewood, solo performances at The Spoleto Festival, and solo recording projects that can be heard on NAXOS, Bridge and Albany Records. Nickson frequently appears as conductor in notable performances with ensembleNEWSRQ, including world premieres, Charles Wuorinen’s New York Notes and Le Marteau sans Maitre of Pierre Boulez.
George Nickson
Principal Percussion
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Percussion

Bio 

Jose Uzcategui is a solo and chamber musician whose energetic performances captivate audiences from the moment he stands on stage. Born and raised in Venezuela, he began his musical studies at the age of five in El Sistema Nacional de Orquestas in Venezuela. At the age of eight, he started playing percussion in La Academia Latinoamericana de Percusión. An advocate for new music, Jose often performs solo recitals featuring contemporary music, commissions new works, and performs in new music ensembles. Jose has an extensive repertoire collection ranging from solo maracas to 45-minute-long concertos. Jose has been a recipient and prize winner of International percussion competitions such as the Great Plains Marimba Competition, Southern California Marimba Competition, and Frances Walton Competition. He is a recipient of the prestigious Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation scholarship and was invited to the 20th Annual Latin GRAMMY Awards as an ambassador. While preparing for competitions, solo recitals, and concerto performances, Jose frequently performs with major ensembles/orchestras in the DFW area such as the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the Dallas Winds. Through his creative programming and use of diverse combinations of percussion instruments, Jose creates diverse soundscapes and unique experiences that showcase a new dynamic perspective on percussion. His mission is to introduce the realm of percussion to new audiences through exciting, high-intensity performances. Jose endorses Dragonfly Percussion mallets and is a TAPS LA Festival Artist.
Jose Uzcategui
Solo Artist
​
Percussion

Bio 

Tereza Stanislav is a member of the Calder Quartet, and New Hollywood Quartet, as well as the Assistant Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. An active and highly sought after chamber musician, Tereza Stanislav has appeared in venues including the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall and at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. She has performed in concert with many of the world’s leading artists including August Hadelich, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Jon Kimura Parker. An advocate for new music, Tereza has worked with composers including Thomas Ades, Steve Reich, Gunther Schuller, Joan Tower, Toshio Hosokawa and Louis Andriessen. World premieres include Gunther Schuller’s Horn Quintet (2009 Miro Quartet) with Julie Landsman, Louis Andriessen’s The City of Dis (2007), Gernot Wolfgang’s Rolling Hills and Jagged Ridges (2009), James Matheson’s Violin Sonata (2007). She is featured on recordings of Wolfgang’s Rolling Hills and Jagged Ridges on Albany Records, Reich’s Daniel Variations on Nonesuch, a self-released solo cd with Hung-Kuan Chen and the complete Pleyel string quartets with the Enso Quartet on Nonesuch. Tereza was the featured soloist with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in the world premiere of the Violin Concerto by Benjamin Wallfisch about which the Los Angeles Times wrote, “she gave a magisterial rendition” and “held the audience rapt.”
Tereza Stanislav
LA Studio Musician
​
Strings

Bio 

Apply for Instrument

Requirements:     

​

1. One page artistic resume

2. Audition video: View audition requirements here

3. Application fee 

​

Application Deadline and Fees:

November 1st - December 31st:  $60

January 1st - February 27th:  $95

​

Instruments Accepted:

Percussion (20) & Piano (4)

​

Videos can be in one take or separate takes. If in separate takes, please put all files into one video and submit only one link.

Please upload your video to a cloud service such as YouTube, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. and double check the link is not private.

Applications Closed

Apply for Internship

Requirements:     

 

1. Resume 

2. Statement of Intention: Short video explaining why the internship program interests you and what you would like to learn from it

​​ 

​​All applications are due March 3rd, 2026 at 11:59pm PST.

Results will be announced mid March.

​

​Note: Fellows who have been involved in TAPS for two or more years are no longer eligible to apply.

​

​

​

​

Applications Closed

Repertoire

Percussion

Marimba

      - 4 mallet solo of choice (3+ minutes)

​

Snare Drum

      - Delecluse, Douze Etudes, No 1, 6, 9 or 10 (choose one)

      - Prokofiev, Peter and the Wolf, Reh 49-51

      - Prokofiev, Lt Kije, Reh 1-2

​

Xylophone

      - Gershwin, Porgy and Bess

​

Glockenspiel

      - Mozart, The Magic Flute

Piano

1. Movement from any standard major concerto of choice
    i.e. Schumann, Dvorak, Haydn

​

2. Optional: Chamber music recording - Highly encouraged

Faculty for
TAPS LA 2025

Ted Atkatz
Former Principal Percussion
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Percussion

Bio 

Andy Akiho
Artist/Composer in Residence
​
Percussion

Bio 

Matt Howard
Principal Percussion
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Percussion

Bio 

Joe Pereira
Principal Timpani
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Percussion

Bio 

George Nickson
Principal Percussion
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Percussion

Bio 

Jose Uzcategui
Solo Artist
​
Percussion

Bio 

Tereza Stanislav
LA Studio Musician
​
Strings

Bio 

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