The Marimba and Percussion Ensemble of the University of Costa Rica’s Pre-University Program in Musical Arts (Guanacaste Campus) was founded by Maestro Ulpiano Duarte Arrieta in 1979. Its mission was to teach and disseminate the musical heritage of the marimba from Guanacaste to young people and children in the surrounding regions. Since its inception, over 8,500 students have enrolled, and the ensemble has given more than 2,700 performances. Furthermore, it has engaged in teaching and research activities, facilitating the preservation and instruction of the techniques associated with this traditional marimba repertoire. Through outreach and research projects, the ensemble has also recorded four CDs as part of the "Música y Sonidos de Guanacaste" (Music and Sounds of Guanacaste) series, enabling the dissemination of this oral tradition within Costa Rica as well as in Europe, Asia, and across the Americas.
The ensemble's academic contributions are reflected in books, articles, and presentations delivered at courses and conferences both domestically and internationally. Faculty members associated with this program have included Ulpiano Duarte Arrieta, Santos Leal Obregón, Abel Guadamuz Mendoza, Alonso Ramos Arrieta, Eduardo Villafuerte Jirón, and Yennier Rodríguez Zúñiga.
Raziel Acevedo Álvarez is Professor of Music at the University of Costa Rica and was Director of the Pre-College Program of Musical Arts in Santa Cruz, Guanacaste until 2024. As a researcher, he has different publications about the traditional music of Guanacaste, its rhythms, instruments and builders, and his work in this area has taken him to offer courses and conferences in different countries throughout the American continent, Europe and Asia. He performs regularly with traditional marimba ensembles and is an active educator of this instrument in the city of Santa Cruz, birthplace of the marimba in Costa Rica.
Since 2009, BATO BATO! Breck School’s Marimba Ensemble has enjoyed playing routinely at venues around the Twin Cities including the Midtown Global Market, The Cedar Cultural Center, the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and the Minnesota State Fair. The group has opened for international acts like Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Sierra Leone's Refugee All-Stars, and the Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba. The name of the group is Swahili for "dancing place"— and these high school students bring that high energy to every performance whether it’s supporting an on-campus event or performing for the public. The repertoire of the ensemble consists of traditional Zimbabwean songs, arrangements of pop songs, contemporary South African music and newly composed music for marimba. BATO BATO!'s marimbas were handmade by Mike Ashton, an expert local woodworker. You can listen to BATO BATO! on all streaming platforms.
BATO BATO! is a student club within Breck School, an Episcopal, independent, college-preparatory day school enrolling students of diverse backgrounds in grades preschool through twelve located in Golden Valley, Minn. Serving 1,200 students, Breck's mission is to create confident learners who lead lives of intellectual curiosity, self-knowledge, and social responsibility. Learn more at BreckSchool.org
David Birrow is a music teacher, percussionist, and published author based in Minneapolis. At Breck School, David teaches a variety of general music classes to students in grades 6-12 including Marimba Band, Bucket Drumming, Music Production, Music Theory, and World Music. As a versatile percussionist, his interests range from orchestral to world music to jazz to new music. Recent performances include extra percussionist with the Minnesota Orchestra, accompanying the Paul Taylor Dance Company, and subbing for musical theater. An award-winning educator and national conference presenter, he is the author of The Bucket Book, a guide to teaching bucket drumming published by Alfred Music.
The University of Minnesota Percussion Ensemble has contributed to enriching the cultural life of Minnesota since 1993, after the appointment of Prof. Fernando Meza as the first full-time percussion faculty member in the School of Music. The ensemble’s primary objectives are to provide its members with opportunities to explore contemporary music and advanced performance techniques in percussion, as well as to broaden their knowledge of the repertoire through new works and arrangements written specifically for these instruments. Over the years, the ensemble has fostered the development of new repertoire by commissioning works from various composers and participating in consortia with other institutions to create and premiere new compositions. The ensemble performs in a variety of educational programs and has participated in events organized by the Percussive Arts Society (PAS), the Minnesota Music Educators Association and other organizations, It also performs regularly at the University of Minnesota, presenting concerts throughout the academic year and has toured six times internationally in Latin America.
Fernando A. Meza is Professor of Music and director of percussion studies at the University of Minnesota School of Music in Minneapolis. A native of Costa Rica and formerly principal percussionist of its National Symphony Orchestra during the 1989-1991 seasons, Meza has performed with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra, with whom he has recorded for 11 CDs, as well as toured with them in venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center (New York), Musikverein (Vienna), Berliner Philharmonie (Germany), Royal Albert Hall (London), and in unique tours of Cuba and South Africa. He has toured in Japan, the USA and Costa Rica with legendary marimba artist Keiko Abe, and recorded Conversation in the Forest for her CD Keiko Abe and the World’s Leading Percussionists. As part of the Jovan Perkussion Projekt, he performed in Europe, Lithuania and the USA with composer and percussion virtuoso Nebojsa Zivkovic and recorded his compositions Trio per Uno, and Lamento e Danza Barbara. Meza was one of the five original percussionists for the Broadway production and original-cast recording of Disney's The Lion King, was the organizer/host of Marimba 2010 International Festival and Conference, and served as the percussion faculty member for the Orchestra of the Americas from 2003-2021. Prior to his appointment at the University of Minnesota, Meza was on the faculties of the University of Costa Rica and The Ohio State University. His recording J.S. Bach: Suites for Unaccompanied Cello performed on Marimba by Fernando Meza is distributed through cdbaby.com, iTunes, and other digital music providers. He is a performing artist/clinician for Grover Pro Percussion, Zildjian, and OBiolley Instruments.
