ALANA WIESING | TIMPANI & PERCUSSION

PRINCIPAL TIMPANI, TUCSON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA | PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

Alana Wiesing is a multi-faceted and award-winning timpanist and percussionist from Phoenix, AZ. She holds a Master of Music degree in percussion performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, IN, where she also completed her undergraduate studies. Her primary percussion instructors were Bill Wanser and John Tafoya, and she has completed additional studies most notably and extensively with David Herbert, Cynthia Yeh, Joseph Pereira, Ed Stephan, Markus Rhoten, Richard Weiner, Jauvon Gilliam, Eric Shin, Keith Aleo, Michael Spiro, Jonathan Haas, and Doug Howard. Alana’s summer festival activities include the Eastern Music Festival (2007, 2008), the Interlochen Arts Camp (2009, 2010), the Chosen Vale International Percussion Seminar (2011), the Indiana University Summer Music Academy (2013), the National Orchestral Institute (2015, 2016), and the Aspen Music Festival & School (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019). She actively performed, recorded, and freelanced with countless orchestras and ensembles during her time in the Midwest, notably serving as the Principal Timpanist of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic and the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra as well as a regular substitute and extra percussionist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.

Alana is currently based in Tucson, AZ. She is the Principal Timpanist of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, where she was also elected to serve on the program advisory committee. She is a passionate educator, instructing as an Adjunct Professor of Percussion at the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music and operating her private teaching studio. Since her arrival in Tucson, Alana has presented masterclasses and clinics for Michigan State University, George Mason University, University of Florida, Western Carolina University, Benedict College, the Arizona PAS Day of Percussion, and University of Arizona. She also participated in a virtual roundtable to discuss breaking racial barriers in the education and performance world through the Percussive Arts Society and its Diversity Alliance, and she has appeared on numerous podcasts and platforms to discuss these topics of personal impact concerning equity, diversity, and inclusion.

In her free time, Alana enjoys hiking, biking, running, cooking, playing sports (notably tennis and ultimate frisbee), attending museums and concerts, playing board games and trivia, listening to all genres of music, trying new restaurants, and spending quality time with family and friends.