About
Megan Shieh-Cruz is a freelance percussionist devoted to the performance of Western Contemporary Classical and Afro-Caribbean percussion. She received her B.A. in percussion performance from UC Davis studying with Chris Froh and her M.M. in percussion performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music in 2010 under the mentorship of Anthony Di Sanza. Megan performed at PASIC 2009’s Focus Day with the UW-Madison Graduate Percussion Group; she also spent three months at the Toho Gakuen Conservatory of Music in Tokyo as an audit student of marimbist Keiko Abe. She has studied Afro-Cuban and Brazilian percussion with notable Bay Area teachers including Sandy Perez, Jesus Diaz, Michael Spiro, Jorge Alabe, and Derek Wright.
Megan’s solo performance has been critically acclaimed by the San Francisco Classical Voice as having a “dynamic presence”. Locally, she has performed with many ensembles including the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Empyrean Ensemble, Eco Ensemble, Opera Parallèle, Silicon Valley Symphony, UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, UC Davis University Chorus, UC Berkeley Symphony, Grupo Samba Rio, Maracatu Luta, SambAsia SF, and others. Megan maintains a private teaching studio for students in the South Bay Area. She has also taught private lessons at UC Davis (Fall Quarter 2020) and occasionally coached the percussion sectionals for the UCD Symphony Orchestra. More info about her private studio can be found at www.shiehpercussionstudio.com