Annie Stevens
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About me

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Here's the short version:
Dr. Annie Stevens, an active soloist and chamber musician throughout the U.S. and internationally, is the Assistant Professor of Percussion at Virginia Tech. As a member of Escape Ten since 2012, the duo has performed and lectured at over 35 universities, at four international conferences, and was featured on NPR’s "Performance Today with Fred Childs." As an advocate for new percussion solos and chamber music, Annie has been a part of commissioning over 45 new works for percussion. She has been featured in performances at the International Computer Music Conference, the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the U.S., the New Interfaces for Musical Expression conference, the Wintergreen Music Festival and the Garth Newell Music Center in Virginia, and the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. She has performed with the festival orchestras of the Music Academy of the West, the National Orchestral Institute, the Aspen Music Festival, the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, and was an invited fellow with the Banff Evolution Ensemble. Currently, she is the principal timpanist for the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, where she was recognized as "impeccably responsive" by the Roanoke Times. She can be heard on the albums, Our Favorite Things (Ravello Records) and Colours of a Groove by Escape Ten, and Blue Earth County with the Kelly Rossum Quartet. Annie's primary teachers include Michael Burritt, Alan Abel, Chip Ross, Bill Cahn, She-e Wu, and Tom McGowan, and she holds degrees from Northwestern University (B.M.), Rutgers University (M.M.) and The Eastman School of Music (D.M.A). Annie lives in Blacksburg, VA with her husband and violinist, John Irrera, and their two young daughters.


And if you want to read more....

Annie Stevens is the Assistant Professor of Percussion in the School of Performing Arts at Virginia Tech where she teaches studio percussion and directs the VT percussion ensemble (VTP).  As a member of the percussion duo, Escape Ten (www.escapeten.com), she maintains an active performance calendar around the United States and abroad, having recently performed with the Escape Ten duo at the 2019 World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles conference (WASBE) in Buñol, Spain, and the 3rd Meeting of Contemporary Percussionists in Xabia, Spain. Escape Ten, comprised of Annie Stevens and Andrea Venet, performs new repertoire throughout the U.S. and abroad, collectively contributing to the growing repertoire of percussion music by commissioning composers, and publishing these new works under the Escape X Series through Keyboard Percussion Publications. The duo has also performed a standing room only showcase concert at the 2016 Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the Leigh Howard Stevens Summer Marimba Festival, Atlanta's prestigious Spivey Hall, the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, Jacksonville's Cummer Museum, as well as numerous universities.


As a chamber musician and soloist, Stevens has performed internationally at music conservatories in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Xi’an, China, The Academy for the Performing Arts in Trinidad, the Paris Conservatory with the Eastman Percussion Ensemble, and has toured throughout Germany as timpanist with the Detmold Chamber Orchestra. In 2017, she was invited as a fellow to attend Ensemble Evolution, a performance seminar hosted by the International Contemporary Ensemble at the Banff Centre in Banff, Canada. Nationally, she has collaborated with New York’s Ensemble Signal and the Grammy nominated Metropolis Ensemble. Local engagements include those with the Roanoke Symphony as the principal timpanist, the Wintergreen Summer Music Festival, and the Garth Newell Music Center. She can be heard on albums, Blue Earth County with the Kelly Rossum Quartet, and Escape Ten’s, Colours of a Groove and Our Favorite Things​ (Parma Recordings label).       

Annie has been featured at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention on numerous occasions, the Virginia Music Educator’s Association annual conference, the New Interfaces for Musical Expression international conference, the International Computer Music Conference, the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music, the International Trumpet Guild, the College Music Society National Conference, and the International Trombone Festival.  

Stevens earned a D.M.A. degree from the Eastman School of Music where she studied percussion with Michael Burritt. Her research interests are in the area of chamber percussion, percussion pedagogy,  and world percussion. She has pursued research on the music of Paul Lansky, having presented a lecture recital entitled, "From Electronic to Acoustic: A Study on Paul Lansky's Acoustic Percussion Music."  She also holds degrees from Northwestern University (B.M.) and Rutgers University (M.M.), and spent a semester abroad at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold, Germany.  Her teachers include Michael Burritt, She-e Wu, Bill Cahn, Alan Abel, Chip Ross, and Tom McGowan. Previously, she has served as a faculty member at Christopher Newport University and the University of West Georgia.  Annie is a Malletech Performing Artist, a Remo artist, a Dream Cymbals and Gongs artist, and serves on the Board of Advisors and music technology committee for the Percussive Arts Society. Annie currently lives in Blacksburg with her husband and violinist, John Irrera.

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  • Home
  • Bio
  • Schedule
  • VT Percussion
    • Past Programs
    • VTP Media
    • Programs
  • Escape Ten Duo
  • Contact
  • Clinic Materials