John Gann
Percussion
MEMBER SINCE 1989
EDUCATION St. Louis Conservatory of Music, University of Southern California, Cal State San Bernardino
FUN FACT I used to work as a carny!
HOBBIES Hiking in our local mountains. Cooking-I'm a BBQ pitmaster. Working out, sport-fishing and telling stories. I also "dabble" at learning to play the guitar.
BIOGRAPHY
John Gann earned a Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance from the St. Louis Conservatory of Music, where his principal percussion teachers were John Kasica and Tom Stubbs. His principal timpani teacher was Richard Holmes. He earned a Master of Music in Percussion Performance from the University of Southern California where his principal teachers were Dale Anderson and Ken Watson. Additionally, John holds a single subject teaching credential in the content area of music from California State University, San Bernardino.
John is currently a percussionist with the San Bernardino Symphony, a position that he has held for over 30 years. He is also the timpanist for the Loma Linda Lyric Symphony, The Southland Symphony, and the Temecula Valley Symphony. He has performed with the Redlands Symphony, Riverside County Philharmonic, Indian Wells Desert Symphony, and the Pasadena Symphony. In 1991 he toured with the Western Opera Theatre, which is the touring arm of the San Francisco Opera Company in the production of Carmen on their Southern California Tour. He has worked under the baton of many prolific conductors including Stewart Robertson, Leonard Slatkin, Jorge Mester, Enrique Diemecke, and John Williams.
John has performed in the backup orchestras of several touring artists including Melisa Manchester, Rita Coolidge, Vickie Carr, Jose Hernandez’ Mariachi Sol, Cathy Rigby, Jack Jones, Eddie Daniels, The Irish Tenors, Rich Little, and his personal favorites, The Andy Williams Christmas show and the Tennessee Ernie Ford Show. Additionally he has performed with, as he likes to say, many more “not so famous” artists. As a music educator John teaches private lessons through the University Of Redlands Community School Of Music, and is the director of Instrumental and Vocal music at Clement Middle School, and was on the faculty staff of Arrowbear Music Camp for over twenty years. He is an active member of the American Choral Directors Association, and the American Federation of Musicians. John lives in Claremont with his 2 cats Max and Kassie.