University of Texas at San Antonio Percussion Festival
Saturday, April 11, 2026
Hosted by Sherry Rubins
University of Texas at San Antonio
One UTSA Circle
San Antonio, TX 78249
PAS Group Member
$250
Non-PAS Group Member
$400
Learn more about becoming a PAS Group Member here.
Registration will open at Noon Eastern on Monday, December 8th, and competition spots are expected to fill quickly. Space at each event will be limited, so directors should plan to reserve their spot as soon as registration opens in December, and have their group membership processed ahead of time (if seeking the member discount). All events are first-come, first-served. Only one registration per school/organization will be accepted up until one month prior to the chosen event.
Judges
Dave Hall
Dave Hall is Associate Professor of Percussion at the University of North Texas College of Music, where he directs the UNT Percussion Ensemble and teaches applied lessons and courses on percussion literature, history, and pedagogy. Before his appointment at UNT, he was Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Under his direction, the University of Nebraska Percussion Ensemble was selected to perform a showcase concert at PASIC in both 2019 and 2016 as winners of the Percussive Arts Society International Percussion Ensemble Competition. Dr. Hall established and directed Nebraska Steel, the first university steel band in the state.
He regularly performs as a keyboard and multi-percussion soloist, collaborative chamber musician (especially in contemporary classical settings), jazz drummer, timpanist, orchestral percussionist, steel pan player, and improviser – favoring an eclectic and omnivorous approach to percussion and the arts. In addition to regular engagements in the contiguous United States, he has performed abroad in Spain, Puerto Rico, Belgium, France, Italy, Poland, and at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
Dave is an active composer, published by C. Alan Publications. His works for percussion have been commissioned, performed, and recorded around the world. His music has been called “the aural equivalent of a Dali painting” (New York Concert Review). His compositions are regularly performed at notable venues including the Midwest Clinic, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy, and at major concert halls and performing arts centers in the USA and abroad. He is regularly involved nationally and internationally as an adjudicator and clinician for concert and marching percussion. Since 2019, he has been a member of the DCI World Champion Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps as Associate Music Ensemble Coordinator and Music Design Consultant.
Dr. Hall has earned degrees in percussion performance from the University of North Texas (D.M.A), TCU (M.M.), and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (B.M.). He is an endorsing artist for Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets, Pearl/Adams concert percussion, Remo drumheads, Sabian Cymbals and is a member of the Black Swamp Percussion Educator Network. He is co-chair of the PAS Percussion Ensemble Committee and a member of the PAS Board of Advisors. He currently resides in Denton, TX with his wife Elizabeth and their three children.
Andrea Venet
Dr. Andrea Venet is a percussion artist, soloist, educator, and composer specializing in contemporary and classical genres. She is currently Associate Professor and head of the percussion department at the University of North Florida. As an international soloist, chamber musician, and clinician, she maintains an active performance schedule with appointments held in Europe, Japan, Argentina, Canada, and Trinidad. Highlights include the WASBE & Àgora Actual Festivals (Spain), Banda Sinfónica de la Provincia de Córdoba (Argentina), Kyoto City University University of Arts, PASIC, McGill University (Montreal), Eastman School of Music, Steve Weiss Mallet Festival, Celebrate Marimba Festival, and with the PMR Brass Band (Canada). Her duo, Escape Ten, are signature performing artists and regularly commission new works for percussion. They have their own line of chamber mallets through Malletech and publication series through KPP. Escape Ten has performed and lectured at over 40 universities, at five international conferences, and was featured on NPR’s “Performance Today”.
An award-winning pedagogue and passionate educator, Andrea has been the recipient of the Gerson Yessin Distinguished Professorship in Classical Studies, the UNF Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, and multiple STARS awards for her research and creative activity. She directs the UNF percussion ensemble, teaches applied lessons, pedagogy, methods, percussion literature, and co-directs the UNF NuMIX ensemble. Her areas of research and creative activity include composition, pedagogy, improvisation, marimba and voice, and historically informed Baroque performance practice techniques for playing Bach on marimba. Andrea is commissioned regularly; her works have been performed internationally with world premieres at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, by Grammy-Award winning Third Coast Percussion, and by Drumily Percussion Group in Taiwan. You can hear Andrea on albums Revelations (DrGlocken AV), This Prismasonic Rock I Stand (Mark Records), Our Favorite Things (Ravello), Colours of a Groove (Escape Ten), and Viñao (Rockwell Records). Andrea is an artist for Malletech, Black Swamp, Remo, DREAM Cymbals, and currently serves on the Percussive Arts Society Board of Advisors.
Additional Information
Questions? Please email membership@pas.org.
