YAMAHA PERCUSSIONIST TIM GENIS APPOINTED
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PRINCIPAL TIMPANIST

GRAND RAPIDS, MI (April 25, 2003)—Yamaha percussion artist Timothy Genis has recently been named principal timpanist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra .

Tim Genis

Currently head of the percussion department at Boston University, Genis also runs the Boston University Tanglewood Institute percussion program and is an active clinician. Since his appointment to the Boston Symphony, he has also performed with the New York Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic.

“I’m very involved with Yamaha in a variety of aspects—as a concert percussion consultant, a clinician, and a teacher of master classes—and they are a very comfortable fit with my musical ideas,” says Genis.

While still a student at the Eastman School of Music, Genis won a section position with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, then was invited to fill the principal timpani position with the Hong Kong Philharmonic. At the end of his second season, he transferred to Juilliard and freelanced with the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra, and was a soloist with the Philharmonia Virtuosi. In 1991, he won a position with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra as assistant timpanist/percussionist; in 1993 he joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra as assistant timpanist/percussionist and timpanist of the Boston Pops Orchestra.

Genis, along with Yamaha artist and Chicago Symphony Orchestra percussionist Ted Atkatz, planned the first Yamaha Orchestral Percussion Seminar, which they hope will become a regular series of mock auditions for prospective orchestral percussionists. The seminar gives students real-life training and helps prepare them for surprises that can occur in the audition process. Genis also consults with Yamaha’s design staff and was instrumental in developing the Dresden Style Timpani, a valuable addition to Yamaha’s percussion equipment lineup.

For more information, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Band & Orchestral Division, 3445 East Paris Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49518; call (616) 940-4900; send e-mail to infostation@yamaha.com; or visit www.yamaha.com.