Dr. Michael Gatti

Dr. Michael Gatti, instructor of percussion at DeMatha Catholic High School, earned the degree Doctor of Musical Arts in Percussion Performance from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2000.  Dr. Gatti is the Assistant Principal Percussionist of the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, he is employed as an extra musician in many of the Washington area's professional ensembles, including the National Gallery Orchestra, the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, the Annapolis Symphony and the Washington Winds, the professional wind band of Omega Studios, in Rockville, Maryland, dedicated to the recording of contemporary band literature.  Dr. Gatti has been a clinician and adjudicator in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., and in the fall of 2013 he was appointed adjunct professor of percussion at The Catholic University of America.

Eric Plewinski 

Eric is a member of the Grammy-nominated Inscape Chamber Orchestra. As an active freelancer, he has performed with such groups as the National Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Virginia Opera, Fort Worth Symphony, and Apollo Orchestra. Eric has participated in multiple summer festivals including the National Orchestral Institute and the AIMS Festival in Graz, Austria. Eric also serves as the Director of Percussion at Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, Virginia.  Recently, he was appointed to the percussion faculty at Washington College.   

Rob Burns

Robby Burns is a music educator and freelance percussionist residing in Columbia, Maryland. He is currently an employee of the Howard County Public School System where he teaches band and music at Ellicott Mills Middle School and co-directs the HCPSS Elementary School Honor Band. Outside of his daily music teaching responsibilities, Robby maintains an active private percussion teaching studio out of his home. Many of his students are now music majors in college, have been accepted into district and All State honor ensembles, and have found success as freelance and touring musicians. Robby is regularly called upon as an adjudicator, arranger, ensemble coach, and clinician. 

Robby has presented sessions at conferences for music educators all over the country on the subject of music production software, cloud services, Apple products, and their connection to productivity and creativity in the music classroom. Robby's first book, Digital Organization Tips for Music Teachers, was published by Oxford University Press in September of 2016.

Robby is a member of the National Association for Music Education, the Percussive Arts Society and TI:ME, which is the national organization for Technology in Music Education. Rob Burns is serving as the Technical Director of the 2020 DMV Percussion Academy Virtual Summer Workshop.