Dr. Payton MacDonald
Assistant Professor
Percussion

Office: Shea Auditorium, Room 116
Phone: (973) 720-3667
E-mail: macdonaldp@wpunj.edu
Web site: www.paytonmacdonald.com

WPUNJ Percussion Studio

Payton MacDonald performs with Alarm Will Sound, a new-music group based in New York City. Alarm Will Sound (AWS) is currently regarded as one of the foremost new music ensembles in the country and has recorded two discs, on the Nonesuch and Cantaloupe labels. The New York Times wrote that they are "the future of classical music." Other critics have noted that AWS is ". . .the youngest--and perhaps fastest rising--of the classical new jacks" (Time Out New York) and the group delivers "fresh and energetic performances ... leaves you breathless." (L.A. Times) With Alarm Will Sound MacDonald has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Miller Theatre, Merkin Hall, and Symphony Space. AWS has also performed at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis and the Gardner Museum in Boston. AWS has received grants from the Copland, Mary Flagler Trust, Yvar Mikhashoff, and Argosy foundations, as well as BMI. AWS is artists-in-residence at Dickinson College in Dickinson College.

MacDonald also directs the Payton MacDonald Ensemble, an innovative new group dedicated to performing his music, and he frequently appears as a marimba soloist with Super Marimba. With Super Marimba MacDonald performs his own amplified music using looping machines and delay pedals. MacDonald released his first Super Marimba CD in 2004 on the Fever Pitch label. The disc has received rave reviews. American Record Guide wrote: ". . . MacDonald's works marshal a virtuosic tour de force from the performer. . . Marimba wizardry? The cozy harmonies, the velvety propulsions, the gliding layers groove like some gauzy gamelan. As I listen, I'm drawn through a trance into the dizzying spell of MacDonald's Marimba-Oz." Grooves Magazine wrote: "Marimbas are often stigmatized as mere entertainment for tots or fodder for broken-record minimalism. Payton MacDonald manages to trump both stereotypes with Super Marimba . . .[MacDonald] grew eight arms and concocts cats'-cradle melodies that seem to be performed by two musicians and offer new every time. . .Superhuman."

MacDonald has also appeared as a soloist in England and Croatia, performed with Present Music, and toured Japan with Keiko Abe and the Galaxy percussion group.

He received the Barbara S. Butler composition award, as well as fellowships from Yaddo and Ragdale. Numerous professional and academic ensembles and soloists have performed his music in the U.S., Japan, Canada, and Europe, including Alarm Will Sound, So Percussion, Quintet Mont-Royal, Lithium Ensemble and tabla virtuoso Shawn Mativeksky.

MacDonald earned his BFA from the University of Michigan, where he studied percussion with Michael Udow. He earned his MM, DMA, and the PerformersÕ Certificate from the Eastman School of Music where he studied percussion with John Beck and composition with Robert Morris and Augusta Read Thomas. Further studies include tabla with Bob Becker and Pandit Sharda Sahai. MacDonald is a disciple of Mr. Sahai. In 2004 MacDonald was awarded a grant from the American Institute of Indian Studies for further study in India. MacDonald is an artist-endorser for Percussion Construction mallets. MacDonald teaches music at William Paterson University.