Shannon Wood

Shannon Wood was named Principal Timpanist of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 2013 after an unprecedented year being offered a position with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and trials with the Baltimore and Singapore Symphony. During the summer he serves as Principal Timpanist of the Mozaic Festival in San Luis Obispo, California. Wood has previously held Principal Timpani positions with the Grand Rapids Symphony and Florida Philharmonic Orchestra.

Wood received a Bachelor’s degree in Percussion Performance from the University of Michigan as a Charlie Owen Scholarship recipient studying under Michael Udow, former Principal Percussionist of the Santa Fe Opera, and Salvatore Rabbio, former Principal Timpanist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He received a Master’s of Music in Percussion Performance from Temple University studying with Alan Abel, former Associate Principal Percussion of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He continued Timpani Performance study with Tom Freer, Percussionist and Assistant Principal Timpanist of the Cleveland Orchestra. Wood is a New World Symphony fellow alumnus where he focused on orchestral studies under the musical direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, the former Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony.

As an orchestral and chamber musician he has toured extensively throughout Europe, New Zealand, South America, Asia, and the United States and has performed with the Atlanta Symphony, Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Italy; Auckland Philharmonic in New Zealand, Baltimore Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Singapore Symphony and Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Wood has served on the faculty of the University of Miami and Interlochen Arts Centre and his summer engagements have included the Aspen Music Festival and School, Colorado Music Festival, Grand Tetons, Spoleto USA/Italy, Tanglewood, and GRAZ.

In 2003, Wood premiered a Timpani Concerto written for him by composer Ney Rosauro, available on Cane Records. Also in 2010 Wood filmed two instructional DVDs for Alfred Music Publishing Company’s education project titled Sound Innovations. In 2007 Wood won first prize in Florida’s Percussive Arts Society Composition Contest. In 2011 and 2012 the Grand Rapids Symphony commissioned him for an orchestral work. The 2012 commission, Concerto for Section Percussion, won 1st place in the classical music genre at ArtPrize. A commission by the Erie Chamber Orchestra, Concerto for Solo Percussion and Chamber Orchestra, was premiered in September 2013. His chamber work, Oort Cloud, for Solo Percussion and Others (8 players) featuring Wood as soloist, was performed at Powell Hall in 2015 and conducted by David Robertson, Music Director of SLSO. In 2015 he was commissioned by the St. Louis Symphony Community Partnership Program to write a quartet for English horn, cello, piano, and timpani, Abballanu Cifalutani, which premiered in September 2015.

Wood owns and operates malletshop.com, a source for vintage mallet percussion instruments and timpani. He is endorsed by Zildjian, Remo, Freer Percussion, and is a member of BMI.