Bill Cahn has been a member of the NEXUS, the Toronto-based percussion group since 1971 performing with renowned symphony orchestras and in solo concerts worldwide. From 2005 to 2015 he was Associate Professor of Percussion at the Eastman School of Music and a visiting artist in residence at the Showa Academy of Music in Kawasaki, Japan. Bill was the principal percussionist in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 1968 to 1995. He has served on the RPO Education Committee since 1972, and he is a life member of the orchestra’s Honorary Board of Directors.
Bill has performed with conductors, composers, ensembles, and artists representing many musical styles, including Chet Atkins, John Cage, Aaron Copland, Sir Andrew Davis, Chuck Mangione, Mitch Miller, Seiji Ozawa, Doc Severensen, Leopold Stokowski, Igor Stravinsky, Edgar Varese, and Paul Winter. His book, “Creative Music Making” (2005), on freeform improvisation is published by Routledge Books. Bill’s workshops and residencies include community hand drumming, free-form improvisation, careers in music, and the business of music.
Bill has received the Rochester Philharmonic League’s FANFARE AWARD (1988) for a “significant contribution to music education in Rochester,” Mu Phi Epsilon’s MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR AWARD (1993), and with NEXUS, the TORONTO ARTS AWARD in music (1989), the BANFF CENTRE FOR THE ARTS NATIONAL AWARD (1997), and induction into the Percussive Arts Society’s HALL OF FAME (1999). In 2005 he received the SABIAN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, and in 2015 the Arts and Cultural Council of Greater Rochester LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD. In 2006 Bill received a GRAMMY Award with the Paul Winter Consort.
