Jonathan Hepfer (b. 1983) is a percussionist specializing in contemporary chamber and solo repertoire. He began playing classical music at age 17 after discovering the work of John Cage. Following this epiphany, Jonathan attended Oberlin Conservatory and UC – San Diego, where he studied with Michael Rosen and Steven Schick, respectively. He has recently moved to Germany, where he is pursuing advanced studies with Bernhard Wulff at the Musikhochschule Freiburg with the support of a fellowship from the German Academic Exchange (DAAD).

As a quasi-orchestral and chamber musician, Jonathan has performed with Red Fish Blue Fish, Ensemble SurPlus, the Slee Sinfonietta, SoNoR, and Signal. In 2006, with Alice Teyssier, he co-founded Echoi, a chamber ensemble dedicated to programming rarely performed works from the contemporary literature, as well as pieces by up and coming composers who the group feels deserve more attention. Of particular interest to Jonathan is the relationship of language and music.

On a few occasions, Jonathan has participated in festivals, amongst them the Aspen Music Festival, the Banff Centre – Roots and Rhizomes (Canada), the Bang on Can Summer Institute, Carnegie Hall’s Professional Training Workshop – Music of Messiaen and Varèse, Centre Acanthes (France), die Darmstadt Ferienkurse für neue Musik (Germany), EnsembleAkademie Freiburg (Germany), the Great Mountains Music Festival (S. Korea), June in Buffalo, the Lucerne Festival Academy (Switzerland), the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice and the Taipei International Percussion Conference (Taiwan). One particularly noteworthy experience was a tour of Germany, Japan and New York City playing Pierre Boulez’ Le Marteau Sans Maître under the direction of the composer with musicians from the Lucerne Festival Academy.