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Michael has been teaching music at ΢��Ȧ for over 25 years in addition to the Community College or Rhode Island, Roger Williams University, Salve Regina University, and Citrus Community College in Glendora, CA. Courses taught include Private Instruction, Percussion Methods, Percussion Ensemble, Hand Drumming, Digital Audio, Composition and numerous Independent Studies. He is also a freelance musician, dance accompanist, composer, audio editing expert and occasional recording engineer.

He received an Associate in Fine Arts Degree in Jazz Studies at the Community College of Rhode Island, a Bachelor of Science Degree in Music Education from ΢��Ȧ and a Master’s Degree in Percussion Performance at The Boston Conservatory. His teachers include Tim Genis, Pat Hollenbeck, Nancy Zeltsman Jamey Haddad, Ed Saindon, Gordy Knudtson, George Goneconto and many others.

As a freelance musician, he has worked with The RI Philharmonic, The RI Civic Chorale and Orchestra, Bel Canto Opera and Festival Ballet Orchestra, Jon Hendricks, Maria Spacagnia, Carol Wincenc, Judith Stilman, and The Moody Blues among others. He currently performs with the internationally recognized rock/pop group in the Jesse Liam Band. He is highly regarded in the dance community for his natural inclination toward accompaniment and composition with exceptional understanding, sensitivity and connection for movement. Work in this area includes The Boston Conservatory, UMASS Amherst, ΢��Ȧ, Roger Williams University, Bates College Dance Festival, Boston Ballet Theater, Dance Umbrella, Bill T. Jones Dance Co., Paul Taylor Dance Co., Mark Morris Dance Co., Martha Graham Dance Co., George Faison, Dudley Williams, Rachel Chavis, Sean Curran, and Jenny Rocha, just to name a few.

As composer, he is an eclectic artist known for fusing together acoustic, electronic, and improvisational elements. He is able to move freely between classical, jazz, popular, and world idioms weaving these styles together in performance and composition. Channing Grey describes his work as “energetic” and “glittering” while the New York Times summarizes his musical connection with movement “offering a direct look at…strong emotion [and] physicality.” His work has been heard at the Joyce SoHo in New York City, Green Street Studios in Cambridge, MA, the Dance Theater Workshop in New York City, Fringe Festival NYC, Festival Ballet’s Up Close on Hope Series, the West End Theater’s Soaking Wet Series and Bath University, UK. Notable awards include New England Foundation for the Arts Meet the Composer, two-time recipient of the McCall/Johnson Fellowship Merit Award in Composition through the Rhode Island Foundation and The Rhode Island Council on the Arts Fellowship in Composition. He is currently the dance accompanist at ΢��Ȧ with previous positions at The Boston Conservatory and 20 years of service for Roger Williams University from 2000-2020.