Stuart Gerber
Lauded as having “consummate virtuosity” by The New York Times, percussionist Stuart Gerber has performed extensively throughout the US, Europe, Australia, and Mexico as a soloist and chamber musician. He is Professor of Music at Georgia State University in Atlanta.
As an active performer of new works, Stuart has been involved in a number of world-premiere performances. He gave the world premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s last solo percussion work Himmels-Tür in Italy, and his percussion trio Mittwoch-Formel at the annual Stockhausen-Courses in Kürten, Germany. He has also given the US and Australian premieres of Stockhausen’s duo version of Nasenflügeltanz for percussion and synthesizer, and the US premiere of his solo percussion work Komet. Dr. Gerber was the faculty percussionist for the Stockhausen-Courses from 2005-2010 and has recorded a number of pieces for the Stockhausen Complete Edition released by the Stockhausen-Verlag.
In addition to his work with Stockhausen, Stuart has worked with many other notable composers, such as George Lewis, Vinko Globokar, Kaija Saariaho, Steve Reich, Tristan Murail, Frederic Rzewski, George Crumb, Tania Lèon, Michael Colgrass, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, and John Luther Adams.
Recent engagements include: The Kuala Lumpur Experimental Film, Video, and Music Festival, the Montreal New Music Festival, Electronic Music Malta Festival, The Eduardo MATA Festival in Oaxaca, Mexico, the KLANG Festival at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Cervantino Festival in Guanajuato, Mexico, the Now Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, the Chihuahua International Music Festival in Mexico, the Gulbenkian Center in Lisbon, Portugal, the South Bank Centre in London, the Ultraschall Festival in Berlin, Germany, the Melbourne Recital Centre, Australia, the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, as well as, a performance with Stewart Copeland (the legendary drummer for The Police) at the Savannah Music Festival in Georgia.
Stuart has extensive recording experience and can be heard on Cantaloupe Records, Oberlin Records, Albany Records, Centaur Records, Innova Records, Urtext Digital Classics, Aucourant Records, Bridge Records, Capstone Records, Telarc, Code Blue Records, Mode Records, Wesleyan University Press, the Stockhausen-Verlag, and Vienna Modern Masters.
As a pedagogue Dr. Gerber has recently presented a lecture-recital at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) as well as papers at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic and Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities in Honolulu. He has given numerous master classes at conservatories and universities around the US and abroad. Recent master classes include: the Curtis Institute, the New England Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, Arizona State University, the University of Texas-Austin, the University of Florida, the University of South Florida, the University of Montreal, the Tallin (Estonia) Conservatory of Music, the Southbank Centre (London), and the Sydney Conservatory and the Victoria College of Arts in Australia.
Stuart is a founding member of the Atlanta-based new music group Bent Frequency, performs internationally as one half of the synthesizer-percussion duo Poèmes Électroniques, and is regularly heard as extra percussionist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Dr. Gerber received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin College Conservatory where he studied with Michael Rosen and a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). His teachers at CCM were Allen Otte, Russell Burge, and James Culley of the Percussion Group Cincinnati. He has also done advanced studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, Germany, with Professor Andreas Boettger.