The 2023 Elk Grove Percussion Festival will take place on March 4, 2023!
Adam Hopper is this year's clinician!

Adam Hopper (b.1985) is an active percussion educator, composer, and performer in south east Kentucky. He currently serves as director of percussion at Southwestern High School, and the director of bands at Southern Middle School in Somerset, Kentucky, as well adjunct percussion instructor at Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, Kentucky. Mr. Hopper is involved in many aspects of the percussion landscape. An active performer and clinician. He has performed with Sacred Winds, The Orquesta Sinfonica Cristiana de El Salvador, A Una Voz, The Almeida Duo, The Country Gentlemen Jazz Band, and serves as the principal percussionist in Somerset Big Band. He has presented clinics at a variety of schools and universities in the United States, El Salvador, and Brazil. Mr. Hopper is also an active composer and arranger, having written for and taught various groups at the middle, high school, and university levels. Mr. Hopper’s compositions “Right Track”,“Ghost Garden”, “Bolado” and “You Can’t Get There From Here,” as well as his collection of snare drum solos, “Five on 5” are published through C. Alan Publications. In 2020, his first book of drum set etudes "Wheels Up," was also added to the C. Alan catalog. In 2015, Mr. Hopper was named the the winner of the Heartland Marimba Festival’s Young Composer Competition for his piece “Island Market.” In 2016, Mr. Hopper completed a consortium series of marimba solos and quartets for the University of North Carolina at Greensboro entitled “The Bridge. Mr. Hopper also runs his own publishing company, Hopper Percussion, which specializes in custom arranged percussion works and commissions. Since taking the position at Southwestern High School in 2009, Mr. Hopper’s groups have consistently earned proficient and distinguished ratings at festivals and competitions across the state and region. Mr. Hopper directs the award winning SWHS Percussion Ensemble, and Batucada Brazilian Ensemble as well as overseeing the marching and symphonic percussion sections. Mr. Hopper’s groups have performed with touring productions of “The Music Man,” the Campbellsville University Steel Band, the Elk Grove Percussion Festival in Chicago, Illinois; The Lassiter Percussion Symposium in Atlanta, Georgia; The KASA Conference in Louisville, Kentucky; the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina; the 2017 Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana; and the 2020 Kentucky Music Educators Association Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. Mr. Hopper holds a Bachelor’s in Music Education as well as a Master’s in Percussion Performance from Campbellsville University in Campbellsville, Kentucky, and is currently a doctoral candidate at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. He has professional affiliations with the Kentucky Music Educators Association, and the Percussive Arts Society. Mr. Hopper is a proud endorser of Mapex/Majestic Percussion, Beetle Practice Pads, Black Swamp Percussion, Meinl Percussion and Vertical Snare Drums. He currently resides in Somerset, Kentucky with his wife Sarah, son Jack and their cats Bossa and Thelonious.
The Elk Grove High School Music Department will host the 17th annual Percussion Festival on Saturday, March 4th.
Each ensemble will get a 30 minute time slot, during which they can perform and work with a clinician. In addition to the ensemble performance, we also host a solo contest. The winner of the solo contest will typically perform for the audience in the Theater before/after the main clinic.
For any additional information, please contact:
Ron Fiorito, Jr. Tom Leddy
500 W. Elk Grove Blvd. 630/640-0173
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007 t.leddy@comcast.net847/718-4498
ron.fiorito@d214.org
Past Clinicians/Artists: Adam Hill, Brett Kuhn, Tom Benko, Rob Fergusson, Gregory Beyer, Dede Sampaio, She-e-wu, NIU Percussion Ensemble, Doug Perkins, Paul Wertico, Third Coast Percussion, Kevin Lepper, Ruben Alvarez, Joel Spencer, Huei Yuan Pan, Ed Harrison, Jeff Handley, Bobby Everson, The Screaming Norwegians, DePaul University Percussion Ensemble
Images from past festivals: