Percussionist Ian Antonio’s breadth of experience across a wide variety of chamber ensembles, orchestras, bands, avant-garde theatre companies, and as a soloist, conductor, and educator has led him to develop a unique sound and approach to both performing and teaching.

Ian is a co-director of the Wet Ink Ensemble, a collective of composers and performers. Named 2018’s “Best Ensemble” by the New York Times, Wet Ink most frequently performs as a mixed-instrumentation octet of composer-performers that collaborate in a band-like fashion, writing, improvising, preparing, and touring pieces together over long stretches of time. This approach, honed over decades, has led to an incomparable body of work marked by a keenly developed performance practice, played in concert with ferocity, commitment, and expressivity. In demand at both domestic and international venues, Wet Ink’s performances “combine striking stylistic and aesthetic assurance with technical perfection.” (Dissonanz Switzerland)

Ian is also a member of the percussion ensemble Talujon. The group’s septet configuration allows Talujon to produce large-scale and oft-neglected percussive masterworks as well as new pieces written for the ensemble. Described by the New York Times as possessing an “edgy, unflagging energy”, the ensemble has been championing percussive music for well over two decades. Ian has performed with Talujon at the Metropolitation Museum of Art, Bang on a Can Marathon, BAM Next Wave Festival, and elsewhere across the country.

From 2005-2021, Ian was a founding member of the piano percussion quartet Yarn/Wire. Hailed as “mesmerizing and dynamic” by the New York Times, the ensemble is known for the energy and precision it brings to performances of today’s most adventurous music. With Yarn/Wire, Ian appeared at prestigious venues across the globe, including Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Library of Congress, Edinburgh International Festival, Barbican Centre, and Shanghai Symphony Hall. The ensemble held residencies at institutions such as Columbia University, Harvard University, Stanford University, and ISSUE Project Room, among many others. Premiering over one hundred new works, Ian’s performances can be heard on over a dozen Yarn/Wire albums.

From 2003-2012 Ian was a member of the difficult-to-categorize Zs. With Zs, Ian toured both domestically and abroad, recorded extensively, and made composed / improvised “conceptual art objects that set form and content against each other — like, say, a perfect birthday cake made out of sawdust, or a perfect hammer made out of bird feathers.” (New York Times) Equally at home in lofts, basements, galleries, and festivals, Ian performed with Zs at many prominent jazz festivals including the Germany’s Moers Festival, Switzerland’s Jazz Festival Willislau, and Tokyo’s Club Unit. The band’s 2010 album, New Slaves, was named Album of the Year by Tiny Mix Tapes and appeared on numerous best-of lists.

Ian is Associate Professor of Percussion at the University of Michigan‘s School of Music, Theatre & Dance. He previously taught at the State University of New York at Purchase, 92nd Street Y, Henry Street Settlement, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Ian has recorded over 60 albums for the Nonesuch, Carrier, Kairos, Warp, Another Timbre, Tzadik, Social Registry, Populist, Distributed Objects, Planaria, Quiet Design, and Three One G record labels, among others. Outside of the ensembles he co-directs, Ian has performed and recorded with the Albany Symphony, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, International Contemporary Ensemble, London Sinfonettia, SEM Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, and Theatre of a Two-Headed Calf, among many others.

Ian was born in 1981 and grew up in Albany, NY, studying percussion with Richard Albagli and performing with the Empire State Youth Orchestra and Percussion Ensemble. He moved to New York City to attend the Manhattan School of Music and study with James Preiss, Duncan Patton, Christopher Lamb, Eric Charleston, and Claire Heldrich. Ian completed his studies with Eduardo Leandro at Stony Brook University. Ian received his B.M. from the Manhattan School of Music, M.M. and D.M.A. from Stony Brook University, and is an alumni of the Tanglewood Music Center and Yellow Barn festivals. Ian uses Pearl/Adams instruments and Dragonfly sticks and mallets. His music is published by Liquidrum.