Fulbright Scholar, composer, educator, and percussionist Gregory Beyer is a contemporary music specialist whose singular artistic voice tastefully blends classical, jazz, and world music sensibilities.

He is Artistic Director of Arcomusical, an organization dedicated to the Afro-Brazilian berimbau that has been featured on PBS’s “Now Hear This” and NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday. In the United States, Arcomusical has released three albums, MeiaMeia (2016, Innova Recordings), Spinning the Wheel (2019, National Sawdust Tracks), and Emigre and Exile (2022, New Focus Recordings). Additionally, Beyer produced Arcomusical’s Belo Horizonte-based sister ensemble Arcomusical Brasil, its debut album, Semente (2021, Selo Grão Discos). An active researcher and collaborator, Beyer’s most recent article, “Arching Over the Atlantic: Exploring Links between Angolan and Brazilian musical Bows” was published in Ethnomusicology, the journal of the Society for Ethnomusicology.

Earning second place at the 2002 Geneva International Solo Percussion Competition, Beyer has given solo performances throughout the United States as well as Canada England, Germany, Switzerland, China, Brazil. He recently gave the world premiere of Four Elements, a multi-movement solo marimba work by Cambodian-American composer, Chinary Ung.

Professor Beyer is the Director of Percussion Studies at Northern Illinois University, and is a   member of the University of Chicago’s Center for Contemporary Composition’s Grossman Ensemble. From 2001-2014, Beyer performed with flutist Erin Lesser as Due East, a duo that released three albums of music written for the ensemble. From 2011-2018, Beyer was a core member of Chicago’s premiere new music group, Ensemble Dal Niente.

Greg is proud to play Sabian Cymbals, Innovative Percussion Sticks and Mallets, Evans Drumheads, and Pearl/Adams keyboards and drums.