February 28, 2026
In partnership with the Percussive Arts Society, the UT Percussion Studio hosts the University of Tennessee Percussion Festival each spring. The festival offers the opportunity for students and band directors to be immersed in the art of percussion for an entire weekend of learning and discovery. Activities include:
- Percussion Ensemble Festival Adjudication
- Showcase Concerts
- Masterclasses from UT Percussion faculty & guest artists
You can learn more and register by visiting the Percussive Arts Society website.
UT Percussion Faculty
Andrew Bliss
Andrew Bliss is a solo artist, conductor, curator, and educator who maintains a dynamic career of musical collaboration. Residing in Knoxville, TN, his performances have been heard locally at the Tennessee Theatre and the Square Room, and abroad in locations such as the Darmstadt Summer Course for New Music (Germany), the Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada), the Patagonia Percussion Festival (Argentina), the LiveWire Festival in Baltimore, and Stanford’s Cantor Center for Visual Arts.
His repertoire ranges from 20th-century masterworks by John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, and Steve Reich, to the performance and advocacy of contemporary composers such as John Luther Adams, David Lang, and Mark Applebaum. His passion for new music has propelled Bliss to collaborate on new works with a wide range of today’s leading composers and musicians such as Christopher Adler, Christopher Burns, Evan Chapman, David Crowell, Nicholas Deyoe, Marc Mellits, Lewis Nielson, and Anna Thorvaldsdottir, among many others.
Kevin Zetina
Kevin Zetina is a passionate performer, composer, and arranger of all things contemporary whether it be performing seminal works of the last century, premiering or writing brand new works, or arranging heavy metal music for contemporary classical ensembles. He has performed with members of Eighth Blackbird, Ensemble Signal, the JACK Quartet, and the Bang on a Can All-Stars. As a performer, Zetina is a percussionist with multitudes of experience in contemporary music. Having grown up as a guitarist focused on various sorts of death metal, Zetina has always been drawn to music that is experimental in nature. In this effort to push experimentation in music Kevin started the first student-run new music ensemble at the Yale School of Music: Versicolor. The group champions composers who would otherwise be underrepresented and provides a space for contemporary music at Yale. Kevin has played frequently with the Austin based contemporary chamber music group, Density 512. Currently he champions a diverse array of contemporary music through his direction of the University of Tennessee Percussion Ensemble.
Keith Brown
Keith Brown is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Tennessee where in addition to teaching applied drum set, he is the Director of Jazz Bands and coordinator of small Jazz Ensembles. He is an active performer playing regularly with several groups including the trio Boling, Brown, & Holloway, and the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra where he has performed with (among others) Monty Alexander, Mulgrew Miller, Hank Jones, John Clayton, Maceo Parker, Wycliffe Gordon, James Moody, Jimmy Heath, Terrel Stafford, Conrad Herwig, Dan Trudell, Stefon Harris, Karrin Allyson, Gregory Porter, Ingrid Jensen, John Pizzarelli, Ken Peplowski, Eric Reed, James Morrison, Warren Wolf, Cecile McLorin Salvant, and Christian McBride.
He has also performed with Zim Ngqawana, Marvin Stamm, Doc Severinsen, Tommy Flanagan, Jerry Coker, Rick Simerly, Will Campbell, Greg Tardy, Donald Brown, Jeff Coffin and others.
Michael Mixtacki
Michael Mixtacki is a versatile percussionist, educator, and recording artist, and serves as an adjunct lecturer in the Natalie L. Haslam College of Music at UT Knoxville. With over 15 years of experience across world percussion, orchestral percussion, contemporary, jazz, and commercial music genres, Mixtacki has built his career on a well-rounded, holistic approach to percussion.
Prior to his appointment at UT, Mixtacki served on faculty at Texas Tech University, the University of Texas at San Antonio, and Northern Illinois University. He has directed percussion ensembles, taught private lessons, and designed lecture courses in global music, music technology, and percussion pedagogy. Additionally, he founded and directed Afro-Cuban and Brazilian ensembles at each institution, sharing his passion for African Diasporic music research and performance. In addition to traveling across the country for guest artist residencies, Mixtacki has been involved with music camps and summer programs as a director and faculty member.