Dr. Paul Vaillancourt

Dr. Paul Vaillancourt, Assistant Professor of Percussion at Columbus State University, is principal timpanist for the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra and performs regularly with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. He completed his D.M.A. at the State University of New York in Stony Brook studying with Raymond DesRoches. While in New York, he performed regularly with Pulse, the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble and the S.E.M Ensemble. He has been a featured soloist at the Banff Music Festival, the Aspen Summer Music Festival, with the National Arts Center Orchestra, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, the CSU Wind Ensemble and the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic. He has had various performances broadcast by NPR, CBC and Radio-Canada and is in high demand as an instructor and composer of Scottish pipe band drumming. He is a founding member of several contemporary music ensembles including The Furious Band, the duo Strike with pianist Jeff Meyer and the Fountain City Ensemble, who premiered a work by Jim David at the International Clarinet Conference 2005 in Tokyo, Japan. He premiered an entire program of newly commissioned works for flute and percussion with his wife Andrée Martin at Sound Symposium IX, and new works for percussion at Sound Symposium XIII in St. John’s Newfoundland. He also traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia where he and pianist Jeff Meyer presented a duo recital for the SoundWays New Music Festival. In addition, Dr. Vaillancourt was a featured soloist with the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic, premiering a new work by Russian composer Alexandr Radvilovich. He has recently recorded new works for percussion, including a work for solo percussion and percussion ensemble by Canadian composer Brian Cherney entitled: In Gottes Gärten schweigen die Engel.

He has recorded for the following labels: CRI, Tzadik, Naxos, New Chris Records (Live In The Studio-with the jazz trio BE3), Alien Jazz with the Robert Orr Trio. He is endorsed by Bosphorus Cymbals and is a Pearl Education Artist.