Biography

Michael Israelievitch is currently Acting Principal Timpani of the San Francisco Symphony, occupying the Marcia and John Goldman Chair.  He has also served as Principal Timpani of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra since 2010.  Mr. Israelievitch is in demand as an orchestral player, having appeared as guest principal timpanist on several occasions with the Chicago Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Singapore Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic, the Berlin and Stuttgart radio orchestras, and on tour with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. He has also performed as percussionist with the Boston Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and Kansas City Symphony.

As a percussion soloist, Mr. Israelievitch has appeared with several orchestras, most notably giving the world premieres of new concertos by Kelly-Marie Murphy and Alexander Levkovich with the Toronto Symphony. During the 2011-12 season, he gave his Minnesota concerto debut with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, performing James MacMillan’s Veni, Veni, Emmanuel.

Mr. Israelievitch has collaborated with artists including Martha Argerich, Measha Brueggergosman, Nelson Freire, Peter Oundjian, and his father Jacques Israelievitch, and has performed chamber concerts at the Verbier, Ottawa, Chautauqua, and Tanglewood music festivals, and in New York City at Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall with pianist Leif Ove Andsnes. He has premiered dozens of works by leading composers including Samuel Adler, Bruce Adolphe, Michael Colgrass, and Libby Larsen.

A former student of Daniel Druckman and Roland Kohloff at the Juilliard School, Mr. Israelievitch completed his master's degree in 2007 at Boston University under the tutelage of Timothy Genis. Following these studies, he spent two-and- a-half seasons as timpani fellow at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach—an organization for which he has since returned as teacher and coach.

Mr. Israelievitch presently serves on the percussion faculty of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and he has also taught classes at the Juilliard Summer Percussion Seminar. In addition to being a Zildjian Orchestral Artist, he endorses Evans Drumheads.

Mr. Israelievitch is currently a member of the Coaching Team for the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.