Don S. Liuzzi

Don Liuzzi was born and raised in Weymouth, Massachusetts, and completed high school at the Franklin Learning Center in Philadelphia. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan and his Master of Music degree from Temple University. His primary teachers were Alan Abel, Charles Owen, and John Soroka.

Before joining The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1989, Mr. Liuzzi was a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony percussion section from 1982 to 1989. While in Pittsburgh he taught percussion and conducted the percussion ensemble at Duquesne University, was assistant conductor of the Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestra, and appeared on PBS’ nationally syndicated Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, performing marimba and percussion solos. 

Locally, Mr. Liuzzi has been a percussionist with the Network for New Music and has recorded contemporary chamber works for the CRI, Crystal, and Albany labels. His percussion solo and chamber CD release from 2012, Movement in Time (Equilibrium), is volume I of the Philadelphia Percussion Project. This first volume features music by Maurice Wright and Maurice Rissman. Volume II will be released in January 2014 and is a percussion ensemble recording featuring Jennifer Higdon’s Zones, recorded with members of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s percussion section. A participating musician in the documentary film Music from the Inside Out (2005), Mr. Liuzzi also served as the film’s coordinating producer. The feature length film by Anker Productions, which features The Philadelphia Orchestra, was re-released digitally on iTunes in June 2013. Mr. Liuzzi’s other electronic media activity (under his company name of Beat the Drum Entertainment, Inc.) has included a CD, performing drums and singing, and executive producing Weapons of Grass Construction with the DePue Brothers Band. An October 2013 release of their new album, Holidays with the DePue Brothers, is planned.

Mr. Liuzzi has given master classes at most major music schools throughout the United States and in Canada, Mexico, Spain, Korea, and China. He has been a percussion and timpani coach at the National Orchestral Institute, the New World Symphony, the Pacific Music Festival, the Canton International Summer Music Academy, the Lindenbaum Music Festival (in Korea), and most recently with the Youth Orchestra of the Americas. He joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in January 1994. He has also held faculty positions at Rowan University and guest faculty status at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Liuzzi is presently the music director of the Philadelphia All City High School Orchestra and founding conductor of the Curtis Institute’s 20-21 New Music Ensemble. 

Mr. Liuzzi’s early orchestral experience included the Flint Symphony, the Michigan Opera Theater Orchestra, and the Colorado Philharmonic. He has also played in the Spoleto Festival Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center Fellowship Orchestra. In July 1996 he made his solo debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, and his subscription solo debut in January 1998. Having consulted with Yamaha on the development of a new model of professional timpani, he is now a Yamaha performing artist, with a highly-regarded YouTube solo appearance and interview through his Yamaha affiliation. He is married with two adult daughters.

Photo: Chris Lee