Bio

Sarek Gutierrez (he/him) is a musician whose performances have been described as “ranging from elegant and precise to brutally powerful” (Kamikaze Blog). He is a passionate performer, educator, and recording engineer based in San Antonio, Texas.

As a performer, he can be most often seen and heard with the San Antonio Philharmonic as acting assistant principal percussion (Jeffrey Kahane, conductor). He has had the incredible opportunity to perform with the Mid-Texas Symphony (Akiko Fujimoto, conductor), Midland Symphony (Gary Lewis, conductor), Lubbock Symphony (David Cho, conductor), and other regional ensembles. He has been a featured soloist with the Classical Music Institute Chamber Orchestra, at the UTSA New Music Festival, and at the Space City New Music Festival.

As a drum set specialist, he has frequently performed and recorded with various progressive, metal, rock, blues, punk, pop, country, folk, and jazz groups across the U.S. and Canada. He has also filled the role of drum set/percussion specialist at the Woodlawn theatre, Public Theatre of San Antonio, Fredericksburg Theater, and the Tobin Center for Performing Arts to name a few.

Mr. Gutierrez is a full-time lecturer at Texas A&M University San Antonio, where he teaches courses in music appreciation. He additionally teaches applied percussion lessons at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, TX. His past experiences include teaching courses in percussion, pedagogy, music production, and music appreciation at Our Lady of the Lake University.

Before teaching at the university level, Mr. Gutierrez previously taught as a high school and middle school percussion instructor from 2010-2019 where his students consistently earned superior ratings and awards. His DCI/WGI performance experience includes a year with the 2012 Spirit of Atlanta Drum & Bugle Corps., and two years with UTSA’s Rhythm of San Antonio Indoor Drumline. His DCI/WGI teaching experience includes serving on the instructional staff at the Guardians Drum & Bugle Corps., UTSA’s Indoor Drumline and the Our Lady of the Lake University Drumline. Mr. Gutierrez continues to work as a percussion clinician and arranger for programs across the state of Texas.

Mr. Gutierrez is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) in Percussion Performance degree from Texas Tech University. He previously earned degrees from The University of Western Ontario (MM), and The University of Texas at San Antonio (BM) with a Distinguished Performance Certificate. He additionally completed a semester abroad program in Urbino, Italy studying jazz vibraphone with Marco Pacassoni. His primary percussion teachers include Dr. Lisa Rogers, Dr. Jill Ball, Dr. Graeme Francis, and Prof. Sherry Rubins.

Sarek proudly endorses Vic Firth sticks and mallets, Zildjian cymbals, Black Swamp Percussion instruments and accessories, and sE Electronics microphones.

Updated 01/2026