Mike Crain is an award-winning composer and percussionist based in Northern California. His compositions have been performed in New York, at the Festival of New American Music in Sacramento, and the "Day of Percussion" at California State University Sacramento and Southern Oregon University, Ashland. Recently, Mr. Crain's composition for chamber ensemble trio, Riptide, was performed by SyZyGy as part of the New Music Concert Series in Ashland.
Mike has performed in New York, Oregon, Southern California, and in the greater Bay Area at the Otherminds Festival (VI and VII), the Festival of New American Music, the Viola Festival, the John Cage MusiCircus at Fort Mason San Francisco, the Mondavi Performing Arts Center, the San Francisco Asian Art Museum, and Carnegie Hall.
His musical skills are in high demand, and he has played with many ensembles, such as the Empyrean Ensemble, Music Now, sfSound, Reddrum Percussion Group, the Sacramento Experimental Music Group, Camelia Symphony Orchestra, Sacramento Youth Symphony, Folsom Lake Symphony, Sacramento Ballet, University of California Davis Symphony Orchestra, RSVP, Julia Dollison, Kerry Marsh, and the California Brass which was broadcast live on NPR. In addition to performing the premieres of several compositions by composers such as Howard Hersh, Hyo-shin Na, Eric Ewazen, Annie Gosfield, and Jerome Begin, Mike's other credits include working with notable composers such as Gavin Bryars, Linda Bouchard, Stephen Blumberg, and Michael Lipsey of Talujon. Mike, as a member of a percussion quartet, won first place for Ensemble Performance at the Festival of New American Music(1994) and also received the Best New Composer Award at the Festival of New American Music 2003 & 2004.
Mike has studied, performed and composed a wide variety of music styles such as jazz, classical and rock--and focuses on a broad range of ethnic percussion from around the world. His ethnic specializations include tabla (North Indian drums), mbira (Zimbabwe), and Balinese Gamelan. During the summer of 2001, Mike studied in Bali under the direction of the gamelan master Dewa Putu Berata, director of Cudamani . Having completed a Master's of Music and Bachelor's of Music in both Theory/Composition and Percussion Performance, Mike is now part of the faculty at Sacramento City College, and California State University, Sacramento as an instructor of World Music and Electronic Music."; I edited my profile at Freeweblayouts.net , check out these Myspace Layouts!
