Joseph Pereira, percussion, was appointed principal timpanist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic by Esa Pekka Salonen in 2007. Previously he was the assistant principal timpanist/section percussionist of the New York Philharmonic, from January 1998 to September 2008.  He currently runs the percussion studio at USC’s Thornton School of Music and also was on faculty at The Juilliard School from 2005–2013.  Pereira received his master’s degree in percussion from The Juilliard School and a double bachelor’s degree in performance and composition/theory from Boston University. Pereira has also performed with the New York Percussion Quartet, the New York New Music Ensemble, Alea III, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Robert Shaw Festival Singers, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra as principal timpanist. He can also be heard on Telarc, Teldec, and Deutsche Grammophon/Itunes recordings and has recently been part of recording the soundtracks to major motion pictures.