John Bergamo

John Bergamo (May 28, 1940 – October 19, 2013) was an American percussionist and composer. Since 1970 was the coordinator of the percussion department at the California Institute of the Arts.

In 1959 Bergamo attended the Lenox School of Jazz in Lenox, Massachusetts, near Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony. Under a scholarship, he studied drums with Max Roach; had Percy Heath and Kenny Dorham as jazz band instructors; studied history and theory with Gunther Schuller, Marshall Stearns, and George Russell; and was classmates with Ornette Coleman, and Don Cherry. In 1962 Bergamo earned an M.M. degree from Manhattan School of Music (studying percussion with Paul Price and composition with Michael Colgrass), followed by three summers in Tanglewood and time in New York City as a freelance musician.

In the fall of 1964, he joined the Creative Associates at the University at Buffalo. This group was formed by Lukas Foss, and its members included percussionist Jan Williams; composers George Crumb, Sylvano Bussotti, Mauricio Kagel, and Fred Myrow; bassist Buell Neidlinger; oboist / saxophonist Andrew White; singers Carol Plantamura, Sylvia Brigham Dimiziani, and Larry Bogue; trombonist Vinko Globokar; violinist Paul Zukofsky; clarinetist Sherman Friedlander; cellist Jay Humeston; pianist Michael Sahl; violist Jean Depuey; and flutist Karl Kraber.

...
Wikipedia