Alorwoyie is from Anlo-Afiadenyigba in the Volta Region of Ghana, West Africa and is highly regarded as one of Ghana's foremost virtuosos of traditional music and dance.
He was discovered by Phillip Gbeho, then head of the Institute of Art and Culture in Ghana at Hogbetsotso and annual Anlo-traditional cultural festival. Gbeho was so impressed with young Gideon that he offered him a position at the Institute of Art and Culture in 1964. From 1967-84, Alorwoyie worked in the Department of African Studies at the University of Ghana as chief master drummer of the Ghana National Dance Ensemble. Here he acquired the ability to perform music from different cultures. He toured France, the United Kingdom, West Germany, Switzerland, the former USSR, Yugoslavia, the Caribbean, Seoul Korea, Hong Kong, China and the United States as a member of the Ghana National Dance Ensemble. Alorwoyie is the founder and the Artistic Director of the Afrikania Cultural Troupe of Ghana, West Africa, member of the Ethnomusicology Association, and member of the Council of Elders, Dance Africa Chicago.
Alorwoyie has worked with notable scholars and composers such as David Locke, John Chernoff, and Steve Reich. He held positions at the State University of New York, College at Brockport, the American Conservatory of Music and at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago before joining the University of North Texas faculty. He is the founder and artistic director of the Chicago-based African-American Unity Ensemble and a member of the advisory council of the African Music Caucus and Percussive Arts Society. His recent projects have included performances at the Ghana Fest in Chicago, master classes in the Ritual Music of Ghana, West Africa at the New England Conservatory in Boston and performances at the inauguration of CEANA in Atlanta. He currently holds the position of master drummer and artistic director of the UNT African Percussion Ensemble.
Torgbui Gideon Foli Alorwoyie is a wonderful musician, a superb dancer and has command of a vast repertoire. He is a virtuoso instrumentalist who has expanded the range of traditional African drumming and possesses extraordinary control of tonal inflection over a wide dynamic range. When he performs, one senses his total command of the medium.
Professor Midawo Gideon Foli Alorwoyie has been recently installed as Paramount Chief at Tsiyinu-Afegame/Afife, traditional area in the Volta Region of Ghana, West Aftrica, under the stool name of Torgbui Foli Ameanyo III, (Dufia of Tsiyinu/Afife). The event took place on Saturday March 13, 2004.
José M. Aponte
Senior Lecturer of Drum Set and Latin Percussion
Director of the Afro-Cuban Ensemble
Director of the Brazilian Ensemble
Director of the Latin Jazz Lab Band
Email: jose.aponte@unt.edu
Phone: 940-206-4724
José is a senior lecturer at the University of North Texas in the Percussion and Jazz Studies departments, where he teaches drumset and Latin percussion. In addition to his private lesson studio work, José is the director of UNT’s Afro-Cuban Ensemble, Brazilian Ensemble, and Latin Jazz Lab Band.
José M. Aponte, a native of Carolina, Puerto Rico, earned degrees from the Conservatorio de Musica de Puerto Rico (BM), Musicians Institute of Technology in Los Angeles, California (Artist Diploma), and University of North Texas Jazz Studies Program (MM). José has performed with such artists as Giovanni Hidalgo, Emil Richards, Carlos Guedes, Poncho Sanchez, Batacumbele, Gino Vanelli, Brian Bromberg, Lyle Mays, Andy Narell, David Rudder, Relator, Fred Hamilton, Dan Haerle, Tracy Thornton, Lian Teague, Airto Moreira, and Michael Spiro.
Aponte is an active member of the Dallas/Fort Worth musical scene as a freelance performer and studio musician with groups such as Fifo and Citizens of the World Colombian Jazz Group, Fifo and his Afro Bacanos Salsa Band, John Murphy Jazz Trio, singer/songwriter Tania Cordobes, David Lee Schloss’s Caravan, Kalimbe World Jazz Group, Island Boogie Caribbean Band, Justin Cash Jazz Fusion Trio, Tito Charneco’s Diaspora Jazz Group and his own projects (José Aponte and Caribe Club Latin Jazz Quintet, Batuque Brazilian Jazz Trio, and Brasuka Brazilian Jazz Group). José is an artist/clinician for Pearl drums/percussion, Evans drum heads, Pro-Mark sticks and Sabian cymbals.
Christopher Deane
Associate Professor of Percussion
Director of UNT Percussion Players Ensemble
Email: christopher.deane@unt.edu
Phone: 940-565-3714
Christopher Deane is an Associate Professor of Percussion at the University of North Texas College of Music teaching orchestral timpani, mallets, and directing the UNT Percussion Players percussion ensemble. He holds performance degrees from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He studied with James Massie Johnson, former principal timpanist of the St. Louis Symphony and percussion with Allen Otte. He has also studied independently with Roland Kohloff, N.Y. Philharmonic, Eugene Espino, Cincinnati Symphony and Leonard Schulman, N.Y. City Opera.
Deane is currently principal percussionist with the Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra and is acting Principal Timpanist of the East Texas Symphony Orchestra. He is a frequent performer with the Dallas Wind Symphony and has appeared on five recordings with that ensemble. Deane was the Principal Timpanist of the Greensboro Symphony for nine years and performed with the North Carolina Symphony for ten years. Deane has performed with numerous large ensembles including the Boston Pops, Cincinnati Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Ft. Worth Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, Utah Symphony and Virginia Symphony working with conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, Loren Maazel, Andrew Litton, Jaap van Sweden, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, and Keith Lockhart. His chamber music experience includes performances with the Percussion Group Cincinnati, Aeolian Chamber Players, Mallarme Chamber Players and the Philidor Percussion Group. He has appeared in more than seventy performances as a concerto soloist with either symphony orchestras or wind ensembles.
Deane was the faculty percussionist for the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival in Maine from 1982 to 1989. Over the course of those eight years Deane worked closely with composer George Crumb performing his music and serving as a consultant to Crumb for works including Idyll for the Misbegotten, Quest, and Haunted Landscapes. Deane served as a percussionist for the American Dance Festival from 1992 to 1996. He has also served as faculty percussionist for the Vale Veneto Music Festival in Brazil.
Deane has recorded as a timpanist, percussionist and Hungarian Cimbalom soloist. He is a featured concerto soloist on two UNT Wind Symphony recordings featuring the concertos of Joseph Schwantner, Russell Peck and William Kraft under the baton of Eugene Corporon. Deane has also recorded the music of Stravinsky with conductor Robert Craft for the Naxos Label, and has recorded with the Detroit Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Greensboro Symphony, Cincinnati Philharmonia, Mallarme Chamber Players, St. Stevens Chamber Orchestra and the Winston-Salem Symphony.
Deane has won both 1st and 2nd prize in the PAS Composition Competition. He studied Composition with Sherwood Shaffer, Robert Ward, and Charles Fussell, and independently with Ben Johnston. He has received numerous commissions including the Percussive Arts Society, University of Oklahoma, and the University of Kentucky. His music has been performed and recorded internationally and a number of his compositions have become standard literature on concerts and recitals worldwide. Deane has served two terms on the PAS Board of Directors. He is a clinician for the Bergerault/Dynasty Corporation, Black Swamp Percussion, Innovative Percussion and Sabian Cymbals.
Michael Drake
Adjunct Professor of Drumset
Email: michael.drake@unt.edu
Website: www.mikedrakemusic.com
Originally from Durban, South Africa, Mike moved to the Dallas metroplex to study at the University of North Texas where he received his degree in jazz studies. Both locally and nationally, he is very active leading his band, The Mike Drake Band, as well as performing with Dave Liebman, Marvin Stamm, Kenny Werner, Ed Calle, Paquito De’ Rivera, Rosemary Clooney, Bobby Shew, Kenny Rankin, Dan Haerle, Lynn Seaton, Fred Hamilton, Rosana Eckert, Joe McBride, Paul English, Andrew Firth, Dave Pietro, John Adams, Dave Zoller, Genie Grant, Trella Hart.
Mike has also performed with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Jazz Orchestra, Pete Petersen and The Collection Big Band, the Cal Lewiston Orchestra, Keely Smith, The Fifth Dimension, John Gary, The Platters, The Inkspots, The Mamas and Papas, Jerry Jeff Walker, Four Girls Four, Eartha Kitt, Joe Henderson, Billy Taylor, Lee Konitz, George Mraz, Lewis Porter, John Pattitucci, Frank Wess, Conti Condoli, Mark Murphy, Steve Morse (Dixie Dregs), Pete Brewer, to name a few.
He performs clinics and at jazz camps in the area, as well as internationally. Mike is also sought after to record on numerous CDs for various artists, as well as radio and television commercials.
Email: mike@mikedrakemusic.com
