Darin Kamstra

Darin Kamstra is the Director of Jazz Studies and Percussion at Colorado Mesa University. He currently serves as principal timpanist/percussionist of the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra, performs on drumset with the Grand Junction Rockestra and CMU Faculty Jazz Quartet, and appears frequently as a percussion and jazz clinician and recitalist regionally and nationally. 

Dr. Kamstra received a D.M.A. in Percussion Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and he received degrees in Percussion Performance and Music Theory/Composition from the University of Northern Colorado (M.M.) and Eastern Washington University (B.M. & B.A.). He served as principal timpanist of the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra and has performed with professional orchestras, jazz groups, and music theater companies throughout Colorado, Illinois, and the Pacific Northwest. 

Also an active composer and arranger, Dr. Kamstra’s works are published by Tapspace, Walrus Music Publications, and Grand Mesa Music Publishers, and they have been featured at regional, national, and international conventions and at universities across the United States. He is a contributor to the Percussive Arts Society Online Research Journal, a Regional Education Artist for Pearl/Adams Percussion, and a Regional Endorser for Sabian Cymbals.