Amir Amiri is a visionary santur player, composer, and cultural inventor who bridges the past and future, tradition and innovation. His artistry merges ancient inspiration, dazzling virtuosity, and fearless creativity, elevating the santur into bold new musical territories.

Born in Tehran, Iran, Amiri is a master of the santur, a 72-string instrument with origins dating back to approximately 500 BCE. Since arriving in Canada in 1996, he has founded numerous groundbreaking ensembles that redefine the sonic possibilities of Persian music.

His duo Perséides with double bassist Jean Félix Mailloux was a featured act at the National Arts Centre’s Sounds of Persia: Canada’s New Music Masters in 2018, where Amiri also served as Artistic Director. His ensemble projects continue to push musical boundaries, including the Amir Amiri Ensemble, which embodies the fluidity of Middle Eastern musical influences, and Ensemble Kimya, a Montreal-Paris collaboration weaving together early classical and contemporary music from Europe, the Middle East, and India.

Expanding his creative horizons, Amiri composed the score for the feature film Universal Language, Canada's official submission for the 2025 Academy Awards.

Honored as CBC Artist of the Year in 2003 by the Galaxie Rising Stars Program, Amiri continues to captivate audiences worldwide with his magnetic presence and deeply evocative performances.

Recipient of Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Known for his work with Peter Jackson and Howard Shore on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Mark Willsher is equally at home as producer, engineer, mixer, and supervising music editor.  His work spans a broad array of genres, from feature films to classical, folk, and hip-hop.  Recent projects include New Line Cinema’s ‘Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim’ (Composer: Stephen Gallagher), Netflix’s animated feature ‘Ultraman: Rising’ (Composer: Scot Stafford), and the San Francisco Symphony’s recording of Kaija Saariaho’s Opera Adriana Mater (Music Director: Esa-Pekka Salonen) – for which (as mixing engineer) he won a Grammy® Award for Best Opera Recording. 

In addition to production work Mark has always been actively involved in audio education as both guest lecturer and guest faculty. He has lectured at The Peabody Institute, MIT, The San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and was guest audio faculty at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada for seventeen years. Since 2023 Mark has been guest faculty at the Verbier Festival Academy in Switzerland. He is also on the panel of immersive audio experts for the ECHO Project: A collaborative research project on 3D microphone array techniques for orchestral recording, which has broad industry sponsorship. With a background in music performance, and a deep understanding of all technical aspects of the recording process, Mark’s guiding philosophy is always to be able to step back and be absorbed by recordings on an emotional level – to not be conscious of the speakers, microphones, editing, mixing.  His  personal studio is a fully equipped immersive mixing space with a hybrid analogue/digital workflow. Since 2016 Mark resides in North London with his wife, violinist Cecily Ward, and their two Portuguese Water Dogs – Francie & Lando. 

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Sean Connors is an Ensemble Member and Technical Director of Third Coast Percussion. He has performed with Amphion Percussion, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, eighth blackbird, the International Contemporary Ensemble, Signal, and Metropolis Ensemble, and he was the percussionist for 2 summers with the prestigious Aspen Music Festival Contemporary Ensemble.

As an educator, Sean served for 2 years as assistant professor of percussion at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point, and taught elementary school and middle school music in the Chicago suburbs.

Sean holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music.

Peter Martin is an Ensemble Member and Finance Director of Third Coast Percussion.

As a chamber musician, Peter has performed with many leading new music ensembles including the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Eighth Blackbird, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the Atlantic Chamber Ensemble, Opera Moda, Tomorrow Music Orchestra, and Ensemble Signal. In addition to his work with Third Coast Percussion, Peter is a member of the award-winning contemporary music group Ensemble Dal Niente. His recorded work can be heard on the New Focus, New Amsterdam, Mode, Ears & Eyes, Harmonia Mundi, and Narooma labels.

As an educator, Peter was an Assistant Professor and Director of Percussion Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA from 2009-2013. He held previous teaching positions at Northwestern University and Trinity International University.

Peter holds Doctor of Music and Master of Music Degrees from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music and a Bachelor of Music Degree from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. While a student, Peter was awarded first prize at the Percussive Arts Society International Solo Marimba Competition. His teachers include Michael Burritt, She-e Wu, Leigh Howard Stevens.

Robert Dillon is an Ensemble Member and Development Director of Third Coast Percussion. He has also performed as a substitute with the Chicago, Boston, and San Diego Symphony Orchestras, and served as principal percussionist in the Madison Symphony Orchestra from 2007-2008. A passionate educator, he previously served as chair of percussion studies at Merit School of Music and a percussion instructor at Loyola University Chicago.

Robert has appeared numerous times on the Chicago Symphony’s contemporary music series, MusicNow, as well as the University of Chicago’s Contempo series, and was a member of the unique, international 12-percussionist Ensemble XII, which grew out of Pierre Boulez’s Lucerne Festival Academy (Switzerland). Robert was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and participated in programs at the Tanglewood Music Center, Spoleto Festival USA, National Repertory Orchestra, and Pacific Music Festival (Sapporo, Japan).

In addition to Third Coast recordings, Robert can be heard as a soloist on Innova Records (Christopher Adler—Ecstatic Volutions in a Neon Haze), and a performer on Naxos Records (American Music for Percussion, Volume 1) and Parlour Tapes+ (Katherine Young – Diligence is to Magic as Progress is to Flight). He has performed as a soloist in America, Switzerland, and Jordan.

Robert holds a Bachelor of Music from Northwestern University and a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory, where he received the John Cage Award for Outstanding Contribution to Contemporary Music Performance. His teachers include Michael Burritt, James Ross and Will Hudgins.

David Skidmore is an Ensemble Member and Executive Director of Third Coast Percussion.

As a chamber musician, David has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center Festival, Kimmel Center, EMPAC, June in Buffalo, Klangspuren Schwaz, the Ojai Music Festival, the Bang On a Can Marathon and three Percussive Arts Society International Conventions. David was a member of the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble from 2007-2011 and Ensemble ACJW from 2008-2010. David has performed and collaborated with many of the world's finest musicians including conductors Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel, David Robertson, and Michael Tilson Thomas, composers Steve Reich, Steve Mackey, Matthias Pintscher, and Peter Eötvos, and chamber ensembles Eighth Blackbird and Ensemble Signal. David has performed as a soloist in Europe, Asia, and the United States. David has also performed as a member of the Lucerne Festival Academy, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Pacific Music Festival, and the National Repertory Orchestra.

David is also a composer, and his works are performed regularly in concert halls and universities across the country.

David taught for four years on the percussion faculty at the Peabody Conservatory. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music. His teachers were Michael Hernandez, Shawn Schietroma, Michael Burritt, James Ross, and Robert Van Sice.