About me
“A natural player, the opposite of a showman.”
Biography
American percussionist Reed Puleo dedicates himself to performing contemporary classics and the music of our time. His affinity for contemporary music comes from his days playing with the New Jersey Youth Symphony Percussion Ensemble, of which he was a founding member in 2009.
As a versatile performer, Reed has participated in the Grafenegg Academy, Darmstadt Summer Course, Lucerne Festival Academy, Bang on a Can Summer Festival, Chosen Vale International Percussion Seminar, competed in the TROMP International Percussion Competition, appeared at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC), Rite of Summer, Caramoor Festivals, and Celebrity Series of Boston Stave Sessions. He has performed with Talea Ensemble, Klangforum Wien, the Nieuw Ensemble (Amsterdam, NL), members of the Bang on a Can All Stars, musicians of the Silkroad Ensemble, with Mantra Percussion at National Sawdust (Brooklyn, NY), cellist Seth Parker Woods, and is a member of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. He collaborated with Rebecca Saunders on the world premiere performance of DUST III alongside Christian Dierstein and Dirk Rothbrust. As a member of the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO), he performed in the inaugural Lucerne Festival Forward.
He has worked with leading conductors and composers including Tim Weiss, Sir George Benjamin, Brad Lubman, Vimbayi Kaziboni, Thomas Adès, Elena Schwarz, Sylvain Cambreling, Bas Wiegers, Beat Furrer, Helmut Lachenmann, Michael Gordon, Katherine Young, Matthew Aucoin, Nico Muhly, and Augusta Read Thomas. Other performances include those in Symphony Hall (Boston, MA), Carnegie Hall, the Teatro Solis (Montevideo, Uruguay), Auditorio Manuel de Falla (Granada, Spain), the Musikverein, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and at Tanglewood.
Reed completed his Master of Music degree at the University of Michigan SMTD in Performance & Chamber Music, and holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Boston Conservatory at Berklee. He also studied for one year at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. He has received grants from the University of Michigan SMTD EXCEL Lab & Center for European Studies, the ThinkSwiss Foundation, and is spent 2 years in Graz, Austria on a Fulbright Scholarship studying and working with members of Klangforum Wien. His teachers include Kenneth Piascik, Doug Perkins, Samuel Z. Solomon, Nancy Zeltsman, Arnold Marinissen, Ian Antonio, Michael Gould, Christian Dierstein, and Björn Wilker. Reed proudly performs with Vic Firth Drumsticks and Mallets, and Zildjian Cymbals.
Photo by Kristof Lemp