Phillip O’Banion
Percussion

Phillip O’Banion is Associate Professor and Director of Percussion Studies at Temple University. In the summers he is the percussion faculty coordinator for the Sewanee Music Center in Tennessee. As a performer, O’Banion appears regularly with the Philadelphia Orchestra and other symphonic ensembles, new music groups, and theater productions. He serves as percussionist with Orchestra 2001 and Network for New Music, has performed and conducted concerts presented by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and is a frequent collaborator with the Philadelphia Orchestra Percussion Group (POPG). To date, O’Banion has been involved in the commission or premiere of over sixty-five new solo and chamber music works. He currently endorses instruments by Pearl/Adams, Sabian, Evans, Vic Firth, and Grover Pro Percussion. He has served the Percussive Arts Society as symphonic committee chair and a new music and literature reviewer, and appeared at multiple international conventions, as well as festivals in Europe and South America and some of the world’s finest concert halls. Mr. O’Banion can be heard on recordings with the Philadelphia Orchestra on the Deutsche Grammophon label, including the 2022 GRAMMY-winning Symphonies Nos 1 and 3 of Florence Price. His solo album for percussion and electronics, Digital Divide, and his recording of Adam Silverman’s marimba concerto Carbon Paper and Nitrogen Ink are available through BCM+D records. As director of the Philadelphia Percussion + Piano Project, O’Banion leads exciting chamber music projects from the 20th and 21st centuries. The group’s recent releases include Radiant Outbursts: (In)Human Progress in 2020 and No Strings Attached: Percussion Music by Marc Mellits in 2021. His videos and recordings have garnered millions of views and listens across multiple platforms.