Brian Rice is a freelance percussionist with a B.M. in Percussion Performance and Ethnomusicology from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Brian has performed for audiences across North America and Europe with numerous ensembles including Balafon Marimba Ensemble, Kaila Flexer and Next Village, Jim Scott, Bochinche, Sonando, Donald Byrd, Willy and Lobo, The Paul Winter Consort, Richard Egues, Orquestra La Moderna Tradicion, Antonio Calogero and Wake the Dead. In addition, Brian appears on recordings with many of these artists as well as with Mike Marshall, Steve Gadd, Tony Levin and Jay Thomas to name a few. Brian resides in the San Francisco Bay Area and is currently performing in the San Francisco production of the Lion King. Brian Rice is a sought after percussionist for his wealth of experience and skill in a multitude of styles. His love of Brazilian music began at the Interlochen Arts Academy eighteen years ago and led him to follow a path of study into world music and Brazilian music in particular. Upon moving to Seattle in 1994, Brian founded and directed Samba Seattle, a 90-member parade ready escola de samba. Brian assisted the great Brazilian instrumentalist and composer Jovino Santos Neto in the Latin Ensemble class at the Cornish college of Music. After moving to the Bay Area to expand his freelance career, Brian began working with many of the local musicians playing everything from Brazilian, Cuban and Middle-Eastern music, to jazz, klezmer and Celtic. In 2003 Brian traveled to Brazil to study with renowned Panderio player Marcos Susano.