Michael Giunta

Within the wide scope of what it means to be a percussionist, Dr. Michael Giunta’s background is in performing orchestral percussion/timpani, Jazz, Afro-Cuban percussion, and Contemporary Music. Having been a part of numerous commissions of new-music and over thirty world premieres, Dr. Giunta is avidly seeking out new, queer and adventurous works for percussion. He has worked closely with composers such as Kakia Gkoudina, Daijana Wallace, Seare Farhat, and numerous other world-renowned creative artists. As an orchestral performer, he currently serves as Principal Percussionist with the Midland Symphony Orchestra and has previously served as Assistant Timpani/Section Percussion with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra for two seasons. Dr. Giunta has attended the Brevard Institute for two summers where he studied under Gwendolyn Dease, Jerry Noble, David Fishlock, and Charles Ross. In 2019 and 2023 he was a fellow at the Cortona Sessions for New Music studying under Ji-Hye Jung and Michael Compitello giving several world premieres. He has performed under world-renowned conductors such as JoAnn Falletta, Keith Lockhart, Sebastian Lang-Lessing, Rune Bergman, Christian Zacharias, and Matthias Bamert. Dr. Giunta's primary teachers have been Gwendolyn Dease, Kevin Jones, Jon Weber, Gerald Scholl, Robert McCormick, Jeremy Katenic, Barry Smith, and John Shaw. 

Prior to his appointment at OSU, Dr. Giunta served as Visiting Assistant Professor at Pittsburg State University in 2025, and Adjunct Instructor at Michigan State University in 2022 and 2023. Dr. Giunta is passionate about helping each student find their voice as an artist and helping them to carve out their own path as a creative professional. He is a member of Percussive Arts Society and is an educator-artist endorser for Vic Firth Sticks & Mallets and Zildjian Cymbals.