STEVE FITCH
Steve Fitch, born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, plays percussion, associate principal timpani and drum set with The Phoenix Symphony. He has performed in the Drum Corps International Championship finals, and attained sixth place in DCI's "Snare Drum Individuals." Steve earned his bachelor's of music degree in percussion performance with Michael Rosen at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and his master's of music as a graduate teaching assistant to John Beck at the Eastman School of Music. While at Oberlin, Steve soloed with the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra, the Oberlin Wind Ensemble, and the Oberlin Percussion Group, and he won the school's concerto competition performing Robert Kurka's Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra. He was also inducted into the honorary music fraternity Pi Kappa Lambda. In the German press, Steve has been hailed as a "drum wonder," "master drummer," and "extraterrestrial" following performances of his piece "F/X" for solo snare drum. Steve has been a regular guest with the Radio Philharmonie Hannover des NDR, and the Hannover Pops Orchestra, with which he has performed and/or toured with such stars as Ray Charles, Al Jarreau, Bobby McFerrin, Randy Crawford, and Patricia Kaas. Steve has also performed numerous times at the World's Fair (Expo 2000) in Hannover, Germany. He has written two books for drum: Fantastic Feet-Stepping Outside the Box and Fantastic Feet 2-The Footnotes, the first of which is with Mel Bay Publications (2010). Steve is a Vic Firth drum stick artist and a member of the Vic Firth educational team and has been a Zildjian artist since 1995.