Michael Alden Bayard

Michael Alden Bayard (born November 26, 1958) is an American percussionist, drummer, composer, recording artist, music lecturer, and author.

His mother Betty Bayard (stage name Elizabeth George) was an actress who later operated a drama and dance school with his father in Queens, New York.

At age 12, he began practicing diligently on a rubber drum pad in his basement in Flushing, Queens, developing both discipline and musical ability.

At Curtis, Bayard performed percussion and timpani under conductors Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado, Leonard Slatkin, Paul Paray, Klaus Tennstedt, Yuri Temirkanov, and Dmitri Kitayenko.

[2][3] In his final year with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Bayard played principal timpani in a performance of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia.

During his Catskill summers, in the waning days of the Borscht Belt's glory years, Bayard worked with Frank Sinatra Jr., Enzo Stuarti, and Billy Daniels.

During his symphony years, Bayard also worked with popular musicians from a wide range of genres, including Cab Calloway, Eartha Kitt, Mason Williams, Glen Campbell, Tony Bennett, Doc Severinsen, Mel Tormé, George Shearing, Joe Gilman, Dave Brubeck, Glenn Yarbrough, Ray Charles, The Fifth Dimension, Judy Collins, Henry Mancini, Chet Atkins, Carmen McRae, Carmen Dragon, and Peter Nero.

In the mid 1980s, Bayard composed several works for percussion ensemble and dance, namely Polynuclear Seizure (1983), the critically acclaimed[5] Plastoid Plight (1984), and Voyage (1985).

[9] In 1993, Bayard performed the Trio for Violin, String Bass, and Conga Drums by composer Charles Wuorinen, as part of a Chamber Music Society of Sacramento program.

In 1996, Bayard expanded the Rhythm Magic concept into a teambuilding and communication training program for corporations, companies, government departments, and boards of directors across the United States.

[14] In 1997, Bayard presented a premiere of his composition Earthbound: An Experiential Work for Percussion and Electric Trio as part of the Bear Valley Music Festival in Northern California.

In January 1999, Bayard created and performed a musical program called "Artifacts Alive" at the Karshner Museum in Puyallup, Washington, incorporating ancient and rare instruments from around the world.

Also in 2007, Bayard collaborated with composers Gavin Bowes and Wesley James Steck II on the premiere of Passage, a music and dance composition commissioned for the opening of the Benvenuti Performing Arts Center near Sacramento, California.

[17] In 2008, Bayard performed and made a video recording of a musical adaptation of an ancient Hebrew prayer, the Shema, composed by Rita Glassman.

In 2013, Bayard produced and recorded the album "Passion – Songs from Source" featuring vocalist Ann Roach and guest musicians Mary Youngblood, Sarn Oliver, Shea A.J.