Brian Del Signore is the Principal Percussionist and Associate Principal Timpanist of Houston Symphony. He joined Houston Symphony in 1986.
Born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Brian Del Signore began piano studies in early grade school and started playing drums at age eleven. He earned a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 1981 majoring in percussion performance, and went on to earn a Masters in Music from Temple University in Philadelphia, where he studied with Philadelphia Orchestra’s Alan Abel.
Mr. Del Signore performs continually in Houston, and has toured Europe and Japan with the Houston Symphony, as well as with the Houston Symphony Chamber Players. He also performs with Da Camera of Houston on occasion, and has performed in the past with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony.
In the education realm, Mr. Del Signore is on the faculty of the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, where he teaches select graduate percussion students and orchestral percussion repertoire. He also holds clinics and master classes in percussion performance. One clinic in particular deals with the use of recordings and computers to analyze the technical ability of a performer as a training tool. These clinics are supported and endorsed by major percussion manufacturers around the world.
In the Houston community, Mr. Del Signore performs for children and families as BrianBoy and has recorded two CDs of music for young people, which are available at the Houston Symphony Store in Jones Hall, home of the Houston Symphony. In addition to entertainment, BrianBoy presents educational programs in elementary schools entitled “What Makes Music”, and “The Big Picture of Music”. The Houston Symphony League Bay Area is a big supporter of this endeavor and brings his programs to all elementary schools in the Clear Creek Independent School District each year.
Brian Del Signore makes his home in northwest Houston with his wife Leah, and their three teenagers. He may be reached at:
briandelsignore@sbcglobal.net.
