Michael Lester is a freelance percussionist and educator in the Appalachian Highlands area. He holds the Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance from East Tennessee State University and the Master of Music in Percussion Performance from Baylor University. After graduating from Baylor in 2021, he joined the staff at Elizabethton High School as the front ensemble coordinator, and in 2022, Michael became the full-time percussion director. He strives to help students to not only become well-rounded percussionists and musicians but have valuable skills and experiences that will stay with them throughout their lives.
Michael is currently on staff with the ETSU Marching Bucs, and he is the Percussion Instructor at Emory and Henry College. Prior to this, Michael served as the Adjunct Instructor of Percussion at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise. He was also on staff with Dobyns-Bennett High School, a 5-time Bands of America Grand National Finalist, from 2017-2019.
One of Michael’s greatest performing interests is percussion chamber music. He is a founding member of Aleph Percussion Group, which is an East Tennessee based percussion quartet that seeks to provide a fun, exciting, and inclusive musical experience. Some of his other performing outlets have been Baylor Percussion Group, the ETSU Percussion Ensemble, and MC² — a percussion duo with his wife, Cassidy. He has performed with the Symphony of the Mountains in Kingsport, TN as well as the Johnson City Symphony Orchestra in Johnson City, TN.