Headshot by Joe LeBlanc 

Jonathan Bisesi has held the position of Percussionist with The “President’s Own” United States Marine Band since May 2004. He has been a featured soloist with the Marine Band on multiple occasions, most notably on the Filene Center stage at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in 2011 & 2016, and the “President’s Own” 2011 & 2017 National Concert Tours. Other work through the Marine Band includes numerous chamber percussion performances and masterclasses, most notably at the 2008 Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Austin, Texas, Florida State University, The Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Luzerne Music Center, University of Maryland Percussion Seminar, The Manhattan School of Music, as well as countless presentations at universities and high schools across the nation. As a jazz performer he has been featured on vibraphone with the Marine Band Big Band, Latin Ensemble and Jazz Combos, and as a conductor, he has conducted the Marine Band, Chamber Orchestra and Chamber Ensembles.

Mr. Bisesi received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, as a student of Allen Otte, founder of the Percussion Group Cincinnati.  He then completed a Masters of Music degree at Boston University, as a student of Timothy Genis, Principal Timpanist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. As a student, Bisesi was a fellow of the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan and The Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts.

Upon completing his formal education, Bisesi was appointed to the Percussion Faculties at both Boston University (2002-2004) and the prestigious Boston University Tanglewood Institute (2002-2003).  Mr. Bisesi was on Percussion Faculty at the Sunderman Conservatory at Gettysburg College from 2013-2016 and is currently on the Percussion Faculties of George Mason University School of Music, (2015; Co-Coordinator of the Percussion Department since 2022) the Boston Conservatory at Berklee (2021) and the University of Maryland (2022; Director of the Percussion Studio since 2023). During the summer of 2020, Mr. Bisesi was the Co-Founder and clinician of the Dragonfly Online Percussion Experience (DOPE) sponsored by Dragonfly Percussion.

As an active performer and educator Mr. Bisesi has performed with The Cleveland Orchestra, The Boston Symphony Orchestra, The National Symphony Orchestra, The Boston Ballet, The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, The Kennedy Center Opera and Ballet Orchestras, The Buffalo Philharmonic, The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, The New World Symphony, and The International Festival Cervantino (The largest arts festival in Latin America) in Guanajuato, Mexico.  He has presented masterclasses at the The Tanglewood Music Center, The Boston Conservatory, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and his signature xylophone mallets from Dragonfly Percussion can be seen and heard here .

As a composer, arranger and children’s book author, his works are published by Meredith Music (distributed by GIA Publications), Pocket Publications and Acute By Design. THEN/NOW, his debut solo percussion album released in March 2021, spanning 19 years of musical influences, can be purchased/streamed here.

 Mr. Bisesi has been on the Board of Directors of the Vienna Jammers, a youth percussion ensemble located in Vienna, VA from 2016-2020, and Vice President of the Board from 2018-2020. In 2020, he is a Co-founder and Board member of the Network for Diversity in Concert Percussion.  

He currently lives in Annapolis, Maryland with his wife and daughter.

Contact Jon