“One of those holding the torch of progression of drumming” (Adam Arritola/Miami Psych Fest), Sean Hamilton is a percussionist, composer, improviser, and audio engineer currently based in western Colorado. His creative practice primarily focuses on hybrids of the improvised and the composed, rooted in avant-garde and experimental music, free improvisation, electronic and electroacoustic music, noise, punk and metal, and sound art.
Sean has performed in over thirty states and six countries, including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Austria with notable performances including the Percussive Arts Society, Interference Series, Skronk Sessions, Oakland Freedom Jazz Society, the Racer Sessions, MOXSonic, the Gallery at Avalon Island (Orlando), the Luggage Store Gallery, and the SEAMUS National Conference. He has presented additional work at the Asheville and Orlando Fringe Festivals, the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Art in Odd Places Orlando, WKCR-FM New York, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the Charles Adams Studio Project. Sean has also presented lectures on percussion, improvisation, and composition at various universities in the United States and United Kingdom, including the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Arizona State University, New York University, the University of South Carolina, the University of Nebraska, Goldsmiths University of London, the University of Leeds, and City University of London.
Sean is a regular collaborator with visual artists, dancers, choreographers, and musicians, having previously worked with artists including VERB Ballets, New Orleans Airlift, Lindsey Kelley Dance, Death Posture, Eli Blasko, Tatsuya Nakatani, Jacqui Dugal, Tory Tepp, and Rogue Dance. Notable projects include two weeks of creative research at the Phoenix Dance Theatre’s Choreographers and Composers Lab in Leeds, UK, emit:time and Lick in Nude with Lindsey Kelley Dance, several collaborations with visual artist Eli Blasko, an evening-length collaboration with Tatsuya Nakatani, and extensive collaboration with Tory Tepp for Earthtones, a project that combines land art, urban agriculture, and improvisational music making.
In addition to his creative practice, Sean is an audio engineer specializing in live sound production and has produced audio for the St. Petersburg Opera (FL), the Vail Dance Festival, the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra, GoPro Mountain Games, the Vail Jazz Festival, the Florida Dance Festival, and various popular music concerts and festivals.
Sean holds a Master of Music degree in percussion performance and music composition from the University of South Florid and a BM in Music Education from Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania where his studies included percussion, composition, jazz/improvisation, and pedagogy.
Sean is proud to perform exclusively with Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets and Grover Pro Percussion instruments and accessories.
press:
Review: Concurrent Sentience, Percussive Notes (April 2023)
Review: Mechanical Bull, Reach Out and Touch It, Tabs Out Cassette Podcast
Review: Coulter Hamilton; Vital Weekly
Interview, Khyber Pass Podcast
St. Pete Catalyst: The Hustle Profile
Review, solo performance, The Bakery, Atlanta, GA 8/19/18, ArtsATL
LOCI Interview, Creative Loafing Tampa
Drums and Electricity Review, 9/2/17, Eyedrum, Atlanta, GA, ArtsATL
Interview, LOCI at the Orlando Fringe Festival, Freeline Media Orlando
Review, LOCI at the Orlando Fringe Festival, Orlando Sentinel
LOCI Album Review, Positively Underground
LOCI Album Review, Percussive Arts Society's Percussive Notes, May 2017
Hyperbolic Chamber Music Premiere Writeup, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
Copyright Sean Hamilton 2023