Teacher Profile: Gabriel Costache

About Gabriel Costache

Gabriel Costache is a percussionist/drummer, pianist, and educator based in Denver, CO. He has been studying and playing music for the past 20 years. 

Gabriel received his Bachelor's degree in 2022 from the Manhattan School of Music (MSM) in NYC studying Classical Percussion, where he worked under Christopher Lamb (New York Philharmonic), She-e Wu (international soloist), Duncan Patton (Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), and Kyle Zerna (New York Philharmonic). He was awarded the Manhattan School of Music Scholarship as well as the Sabian/Robert Zildjian Memorial Scholarship. During his time at MSM, he was the Principal Percussion of the MSM Philharmonia and was the 1st place Winner of the Lillian Fuchs Memorial Chamber Music Competition. He also took piano lessons and performed regularly.

While at MSM, Gabriel became interested in the hand drums of various world music cultures. He began studying tabla and Hindustani music intensely with Pandit Samir Chatterjee, and he joined the Afro-Cuban band led by Bobby Sanabria at MSM playing congas, bongos, and guiro. He also pursued self-study in other instruments such as tamburello, zarb/tombak, doumbek, riq, pandeiro, kanjira, tar, cajon, and bodhran. This will continue to be a life-long passion of his. 

After graduating from MSM, Gabriel studied conducting at the Juilliard Extension Program with Mark Shapiro. Following that, he spent three months studying abroad in the Netherlands at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam (CvA), where he took lessons from Arnold Marinnissen, Rachel Zhang, and Laurent Wariner. During his time at CvA, he was a first-round finalist in the IPEA International Percussion Competition in Shanghai, China, which concluded a lengthy process of preparing over two hours of solo music to perform at the competition. 

Gabriel has performed at many summer music festivals including the National Orchestral Institute, MSM VIrtual Percussion Summit, Eastern Music Festival, Northwestern Percussion Symposium, Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Interlochen Arts Camp, and the Juilliard Summer Percussion Seminar.

Gabriel received his high school diploma in 2018 from Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, where he studied with Keith Aleo. During his time at Interlochen, he was a winner in the Classical Music category with the YoungArts organization, and he was awarded 3rd place at the New York International Percussion Competition. Prior to Interlochen, Gabriel attended the Denver School of the Arts where he won 1st place in the concerto competition. There, he worked under Dave Hammond while also studying privately with Lizzie van Wirt.

Gabriel began teaching privately in 2015. During his time at MSM he taught at various public schools in group settings. He also taught at Manhattan School of Music PreCollege and at Interlochen Arts Camp.