Jesse Strauss, Percussion

Jesse Strauss, a percussionist and graduate of Belmont University, specializes in chamber music and improvised music for dance. As an accompanist and performer, he has worked with Nashville based dance companies Epiphany, FALL Dance, Belmont University Dept. of Dance, and Tennessee’s Governor School for the Arts. His experience in these settings focuses heavily on improvisation with hand drums, synthesizers, sound processing, and drones. He has performed solo and chamber music at TEDx Nashville, the Nashville Sideshow Fringe Festival, OZ Arts, Chosen Vale Percussion seminar, Leigh Howard Stevens Marimba seminar, Ijams Nature Center in Knoxville, Princeton’s Unruly Sounds festival, and the Pittsburgh New Music Festival.

Jesse serves as cofounder and organizer of Make Music Nashville, a free day of music that brings outdoor concerts and participatory musical activities to neighborhoods around the city. He also works with various non-profit arts organizations, including the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, and is a strong advocate for Nashville’s local arts scene. His musical influences include Sufjan Stevens, Sondre Lerche, Tristan Perich, Steve Reich, John Cage, Dan Deacon, and Johann Sebastian Bach. When not making music, you may find him cycling around town on his red Peugeot and listening to public radio.