Marco Schirripa is an active percussionist, composer, educator, and writer. Originally from Syracuse, New York, he holds Bachelor’s degrees in Percussion Performance and Music Theory from Ithaca College, where he studied percussion with Gordon Stout and Conrad Alexander, and a Master’s degree in Percussion from Indiana University, where he studied with Kevin Bobo. Steve Houghton, John Tafoya, and Michael Spiro, and is currently in the final stages of his doctoral work. He was awarded the prestigious Performer's Certificate from the Jacobs School of Music during his first year of study. Throughout his career, Marco has performed on both national and international stages, including the U.S. Navy Band Saxophone Symposium, the International Tuba and Euphonium Conference, Zeltsman Marimba Festival, and two Percussive Arts Society International Conventions. He has seen constant success in competitions, taking first place in both the 2013 Great Plains International Marimba Competition and the 2014 Southern California International Marimba Competition, and being named a finalist of the Coeur d’Alene Symphony Young Artist Competition and the Percussive Arts Society International Marimba Competition in 2012. Marco’s compositions have been performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, and he has been active in the commissioning and premiering of solo and chamber works by composers as diverse as Masahiro Ishijima, Gordon Stout, Matthew Recio, Thomas Murphy, Nathaniel Dominy, and Joshua Oxford. His playing can be heard on legendary marimbist Gordon Stout’s CD, Welcome to Stoutland, released in 2014. Marco has previously written for the Percussive Arts Society, maintaining a blog with bi-weekly essays about topics in collegiate percussion study. He is a member of the Percussive Arts Society, Pi Kappa Lambda music honor society, and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).