Matt Sharrock (they/them), marimba, has been hailed as one of “Boston’s best percussionists” by I Care if You Listen. Sharrock is a versatile marimbist, percussionist, and conductor who tirelessly champions the music of living composers. As half of the bass clarinet/marimba duo Transient Canvas, they have premiered over 80 pieces while touring extensively in the United States and abroad. From 2013 to 2020, they served as music director and conductor for Equilibrium; and they are a founding member of the mixed quartet Hinge and the Boston Percussion Group. In demand as a chamber musician, they are the resident percussionist with the Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston and have performed with the Lydian String Quartet, Boston Musica Viva, Sound Icon, the Lorelei Ensemble, and Dinosaur Annex, among others. As an orchestral percussionist, Sharrock can be heard regularly with the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra, the Orchestra of Indian Hill, and the Grammy-winning Boston Modern Orchestra Project. They have recorded on Beauport Classical, BMOP/sound, Innova, Navona, New Focus, and Ravello record labels. They are an assistant professor of core studies and composition at Boston Conservatory at Berklee and a course author and facilitator for Berklee Online. Sharrock proudly endorses Marimba One and Encore Mallets. Learn more about Sharrock.
Steph Davis (they/them), marimba, is a marimbist and cultural activist whose music engages traditions, epistemologies, and aesthetics from the African diaspora as means for uncovering truthful historiographies, finding creative self-actualization, and reaching for collective liberation. Hailed by the Washington Post as a “captivating” performer who brings “bright humanity and expressive depth” to contemporary music, Davis is a marimba soloist and chamber musician touring throughout the United States. Integrating Black and Western European classical music, traditional African American spirituals, and Ghanaian gyil songs, their performances explore the cultural and political landscape of the African diaspora. Through their arrangements and commissions, Davis has contributed over 20 works by Black composers to the marimba’s solo and chamber repertoire. They have premiered works by Alissa Voth, Damien Geter, and Pamela Z, among others. Davis proudly endorses Marimba One instruments and mallets as a Marimba One Premiere Artist.
A researcher and scholar of African American music, Davis is a teaching artist with Castle of our Skins, a Black arts institution. They are also an instructor of music theory at Boston Conservatory. They have presented performances and master classes on marimba and vibraphone at the University of Central Florida, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the Center of Mallet Percussion Research at Kutztown University. Davis has been awarded residencies at the Goethe-Institut Boston, Avaloch Farm Music Institute, and Boston Center for the Arts. Davis received their Master of Music in marimba performance from Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where they studied with Nancy Zeltsman. They also hold a Bachelor of Music in percussion performance from the Conservatory. Davis resides on unceded land of the Neponset band of the Massachusett tribe, bordertown Boston, Massachusetts.
