Danny Barsetti-Nerland is currently a percussionist and educator in the Phoenix-area.
Danny graduated from the University of Arizona Summa Cum Laude with Honors in Music Education. In his last semester of his Bachelor's degree, he student taught at Empire High School and Desert Sky Middle School in Vail, Arizona. He recently completed his Master Degree in Percussion Performance at the University of Denver. Currently, he is pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Percussion Performance from Arizona State University and is an Assistant Band Director at Williams Field High School in Gilbert, Arizona.
He has performed with the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra and Sonoran Winds, as well as the Arizona Symphony Orchestra and Arizona Wind Symphony while at the University of Arizona. IN April 2023, Danny was a soloist with the Billings Symphony Orchestra in Billings, Montana. In addition to large ensembles, Danny participated in many Chamber Ensembles throughout his career in Tucson, Denver, and the Phoenix Metro Area.
While the performing aspect is a large part of his career, he was a full time band teacher at Elvira, Summit View, and Santa Clara Elementary School in the Sunnyside Unified School District in Tucson, AZ. Danny was a staff member and conductor in the University of Arizona Outreach Band for five semesters. In his time in the Outreach Band, he worked with the percussion section focusing on fundamental techniques. As one of the student conductors, he selected music that was exciting to play, but at the same time challenged them musicially. Danny also worked as a Camp Counselor at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. While working with Blue Lake, he was offered a position to work as an International Counselor where he accompanied fifty students throughout Europe for three weeks to perform music in different communities.
In addition to the performing ensembles and teaching experiences, Danny has participated in multiple percussion seminars throughout the country including Tócalo Tucson in Tucson, Arizona, Chosen Vale Percussion Institute in Enfield, New Hampshire as well as the Oberlin Percussion Institute in Oberlin, Ohio.
Some of Danny's principal teachers have been Michael Compitello, John Kinzie, Norman Weinberg, Wes Hawkins, Steve Fitch, and Thomas Murphy.