Amy Garapic

Percussionist Amy Garapic is an energetic chamber musician, educator and adventurous producer who curiously explores the impacts of collective sound making in community building.  Focused in the development of new work, Amy can be found performing and coaching music in major concert halls, academic institutions, rock clubs, public schools, festivals and parks alike.  She is one-third of the powerhouse percussion trio, Tigue, with whom she regularly generates original and commissioned work; releases records; and tours and teaches throughout the U.S. and abroad.  She has  premiered dozens of new works as founding percussionist with the "focused and ferocious" NYC-based chamber orchestra Contemporaneous and also enjoys improvising with the experimental sound collective dogsbody in living rooms throughout brooklyn.  

Community building is central to Amy's life in and out of music and she has been fortunate to help build and foster intentional collaborative creative spaces in several wings of her work.  After being selected as a 2016 fellow for the US State Department supported, Found Sound Nation produced cultural exchange residency program Onebeat, Amy has since worked for FSN as a lead Onebeat facilitator. Now, as director of US-based programs, she supportis dozens of innovative international fellows in music-based social entrepreneurship building collaborative projects designed to make a positive impact on local and global communities. After 7 years of co-directing the Chosen Vale International Percussion Seminar, she now co-directs the So Percussion Summer Institute enouraging participants to interrogate the connection betwen the development of musical skills and lifelong community building.

Amy has supported the creation of new sounds with composers Robert Honstein, Jason Treuting, and John Luther Adams; has performed alongside Ensemble Signal, So Percussion, NEXUS, Bang on Can's Asphalt Orchestra; engaged in musical collaborations with pop icons Deerhoof, AR Rahman and David Byrne; and has traveled to countless cities and countries around the world including favorites Harare, Zimbabwe; Aman, Jordan; and Chennai, India.  

Amy also finds great value in exploring the relationship between performer and audience through musical community events.  In the past she has united over 200 musicians from 24 cities and 7 countries in "A Worldwide Day of In C," a 14-hour live-streamed celebration of 50 years of Terry Riley's pioneering minimalist work.  This, following her 2012 production of "A Worldwide Day of Vexations"  joining over 100 percussionists in an 18-hour, live-streamed marathon of Satie's monumental work.  More recently she has produced over 20 performances of John Luther Adams' 100-percussionist Inuksuit, and was featured in both the New York Times and Rolling Stone after leading two successful seasons of hand drum lessons for inmates in Rhythm on Rikers.