Matthew Strauss has developed a highly competitive studio at Rice University. His methodical yet passionate teaching style has guided many of his current and former students towards successful careers as both orchestral percussionists and timpanists. Additionally, he is a Cofounder and Resident Teaching Artist at the International Timpani Intensive held at Rice University. As the Associate Principal Timpanist / Percussionist with the Houston Symphony, he has a clear understanding of the joys and challenges of creating world class music on a consistent basis.

Prior to his post in Houston, Mr. Strauss performed as a member of the percussion section in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for two complete seasons. He also has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, to name a few. Solo appearances include performances with the Houston Symphony, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Texas Music Festival Orchestra, Akron Symphony, New Hampshire Music Festival, Reading Symphony Orchestra and Delaware Symphony Orchestra. An active chamber musician, Mr. Strauss has performed with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Da Camera of Houston, Foundation For Modern Music, Bard Festival Chamber Players, Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival, Skaneateles Music Festival, and has participated in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's contemporary chamber series, Music Now.

Mr. Strauss received his bachelor's degree in Percussion Performance from the Juilliard School and his master’s degree in Performance from the Temple University. He is an alumnus of both the Tanglewood and Aspen Music Festivals and has participated in the Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. Mr. Strauss taught percussion performance at the Mason Gross School of Music at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. He has presented master classes and clinics at numerous schools, festivals, and conventions such as the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, New World Symphony, Juilliard School, Aspen Music Festival, Northwestern University, Texas Bandmasters Association Convention, Conservatoire de Region in Paris, Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, Temple University, Bard Conservatory, New York University, Peabody Conservatory, Tanglewood Music Center, University of Maryland, George Mason University, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Roosevelt University, and DePaul University. Mr. Strauss is a performing artist and clinician for Promark, Evans Heads, Zildjian Inc., and Pearl/Adams Corporation.

Praised as “spectacular” by the Los Angeles Times and “extraordinary”  by the Ventura County Star, the Times describes percussionist Ji Hye  Jung as “a centered player who can give the impression of being very  still yet at all places at once”.

Ms. Jung began concertizing in her native South Korea at the age of  nine where she performed more than 100 concerts including solo  appearances with every major orchestra in Korea.  Soon after coming to  the United States in 2004, Ms. Jung garnered consecutive first prizes at  the 2006 Linz International Marimba Competition and the 2007 Yale  Gordon Concerto Competition.

With percussion repertoire still in its formative stages, Ms. Jung  feels strongly about collaborating with composers to further the  creation of a new voice for the art form.  She has commissioned and premiered works by several important composers including, Kevin Puts, Alejandro Viñao, Paul Lansky, John Serry, Lukas Ligeti, and Jason Treuting.  In 2013 she made the premier recording of Michael Torke’s marimba concerto Mojave and in 2014 recorded Phillip Glass’ Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra for the Naxos label.

Ms. Jung frequently performs with many of today’s most important conductors and instrumentalists. For six years she has served as principal percussionist with the west coast-based chamber music ensemble  Camerata Pacifica, with whom she has premiered works by Bright Sheng  and Huang Ruo.  She has also recorded Stravinsky’s Les Noces with  JoAnn Falletta at the Virginia Arts Festival, performed as soloist with  David Robertson conducting an all Messiaen program at Carnegie Hall,  and made her concerto debut with the Houston Symphony under the baton of  Hans Graf in 2005.

Other performance credits include appearances at Portugal’s Tomarimbando Festival, the West Cork Chamber Music Festival in Ireland,  The Intimacy of Creativity in Hong Kong, the Grand Teton Music Festival,  Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein Festival, and the Grachtenfestival in  Holland.

In 2015 Ji Hye Jung was named Associate Professor of Percussion at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music. She previously served as Associate Professor of Percussion at the University of Kansas for six years. An active educator and clinician, Jung has presented masterclasses at the Curtis Institute, the Peabody Conservatory, Rice University, Beijing’s Central Conservatory, and the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland.

Ji Hye Jung completed a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, both under the tutelage of Robert van Sice. As  an artist endorser, she proudly represents Pearl/Adams instruments, Vic  Firth sticks and mallets, and Zildjian cymbals.