Joseph Gramley is Professor of Percussion at the University of Michigan and director of the university's famed Percussion Ensemble, as well as director of the Summer Percussion Seminar at the Juilliard School in New York, an intensive program for high-school students held at Lincoln Center in New York City. He performs around the world as a member of Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, performs with English organist Clive Driskill-Smith in a duo called Organized Rhythm, and is widely heard and seen in his his dynamic solo percussion concerts. He performs exclusively on SABIAN and Black Swamp Percussion instruments.
Gramley made his concerto debut with the Houston Symphony Orchestra after winning its National Soloist Competition, and made his solo debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in 1994. After graduate studies at the Juilliard School in New York City, he performed with the Ethos Percussion Group throughout the U. S. and Europe.
An invitation from Yo-Yo Ma in 2000 led Gramley to join Mr. Ma's Silk Road Project. He has toured with Mr. Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble throughout North America, Europe and Asia, performing in the world's finest concert halls. Along the way, Gramley has studied percussion styles and instruments from around the globe, collaborating with internationally-renowned musicians from India, Iran, China, Japan, Korea and Central Asia.
Gramley's performances as a soloist have garnered acclaim and enthusiasm from the critics, emerging composers, percussion aficionados and concert-goers alike. He is committed to bringing fresh and inventive compositions to a broad public, and each year he commissions and premieres a number of new works. His first solo recording, American Deconstruction, appeared in 2000. His second recording, Global Percussion has just been released on Towerhill Recordings.