Orégano Percussion

Oregano Percussion is a Toronto-based group that performs music from around the world, combining styles from Latin and Caribbean to songwriting, pop, and percussion chamber music. Alejandro Céspedes and Michelle Colton are artists and endorsers of Pearl Percussion & Adams Musical Instruments; Dream Cymbals & Gongs; and Humes & Berg. They both have an active freelance/teaching career. Oregano Percussion performs throughout North America and has presented clinics at schools in the US, Canada and Cuba. They have been Artists-in-Residence at MusicFest Canada and Birch Creek Music Performance Center.

Dr. Michelle Colton is a versatile percussionist, composer, and singer songwriter who recently released her debut album, Unpredictable Nature. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in percussion from the University of Toronto. Dr. Colton performed in Beijing and Shenyang, China in 2006, in Tokyo, Japan in 2008 at the Keiko Abe Masterclass, and in Havana, Cuba in 2014 as a guest artist/clinician. She was a percussion instructor for the Iowa Ambassadors of Music tours in the UK and Europe. She has studied musical instruments and styles from Japan, India, Bali, Ghana, Trinidad, Cuba, China, and Brazil. She earned first place in the University of Toronto DMA Recital Competition and Concerto Competition. She often plays with the Kingston and Toronto Symphony Orchestras and has performed with NEXUS and Dame Evelyn Glennie. Dr. Colton is the president of the Ontario Percussive Arts Society; and currently teaches percussion lessons in the percussion preparatory department at the University of Toronto. Dr. Colton is an artist and endorser of Pearl/Adams Musical Instruments and Dream Cymbals & Gongs. www.michellecolton.com

Alejandro Céspedes, M.Mus, is an active freelance percussionist and educator who studied at the University of Toronto and Amadeo Roldán Conservatory in Havana, Cuba. He performs classical percussion, body percussion, Latin percussion and steel pan. Céspedes performed with the National Opera and Ballet Orchestra of Cuba and the Niagara, Kingston and Toronto Symphony Orchestras. He has performed with Bobby McFerrin, Jane Bunnett, the Buena Vista Social Club, and was featured at the Toronto Body Percussion Festival. He was a musician/dancer/actor for Venom of Love and The Power of Harriet T! Céspedes founded and conducted the steel pan ensembles at Music By The Lake (Toronto District School Board Music Camp) and the Regent Park School of Music, which performed with 2Cellos and events such as the Luminato and Toronto Jazz Festivals. He has also taught percussion at the National Music Camp of Canada, Manuel Saumell and Amadeo Roldán Conservatories in Havana. He has conducted body percussion workshops at Lizt Alfonso Dance Company in Havana and McGill University in Montreal. He co-founded Oregano Percussion, which combines styles from Latin and Caribbean to Songwriting, Pop, and percussion chamber music. Céspedes is an artist/endorser of Pearl/Adams Musical Instruments, and Humes & Berg.

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