Katy Elman
All Katy wanted to do when she was eight was hit snare drums. That quickly escalated, taking masterclass after masterclass with world-renowned percussionists and establishing a specialist education at national institutes from a really young age. It wasn’t long after that she was performing percussion professionally, working with the Concordia Foundation on outreach projects, and playing onstage with legendary jazz pianist Buddy Greco. A principal percussionist with the Aurelian ensemble, Katy has also achieved success performing solo.
Katy is the proud founder and director of Southern Percussion, a leading global name in classical and Latin percussion supplies. Since becoming a mother, her interest in teaching has grown exponentially, mentoring and supporting budding musicians to achieve dreams of attending the nation’s top music colleges before carving out roles for themselves in the industry. Her livelihood and primary focus are helping children and adults fall totally in love with percussion.
The exciting, brand new Southern Percussion Institute has been formed from a life-long passion for education. With Katy at the helm of a dedicated team working hard to establish a centre for percussion excellence, imagine the impact they’ll make!
Gosia Kepa
When seven-year-old Gosia picked up a violin she knew she had made the exciting discovery of music. Fast forward to her teenage years, she ditched the strings to pick up a pair of mallets, immediately feeling a life-long passion coming nicely along.
Spending most of her early 20s touring in orchestras, ensembles and as a soloist across mainland Europe and Russia, Gosia then decided to continue learning her craft at the prestigious Trinity Laban Conservatoire in South-East London. She finished her degree with a Silver Medal Award for achievements in orchestral timpani and percussion.
If she isn’t performing or running Southern Percussion with Katy, Gosia will be in the classroom. Teaching comes second nature to Gosia, and the majority of her time is invested in improving herself as a mentor. The lessons she has given range from one-to-one tutoring to whole classrooms in school workshops, specialising in timpani, marimba, bass drum and tambourine.
Gosia has been part of Southern Percussion since 2018 and is working hard with Katy to launch Southern Percussion Institute, an exciting new project dedicated to percussion education. Outside of a busy music schedule, you’ll find her reading, cooking, repairing instruments or wandering around an art gallery.