Adam Hopper (b.1985) is an active percussion educator, composer, and performer in southeast Kentucky. He currently serves as director of percussion at Southwestern High School in Somerset, Kentucky. Mr. Hopper is involved in many aspects of the percussion landscape. An active performer and clinician, he has performed with Grammy award winning artist Wes Hampton, Dove award winner TaRanda Greene, as well as Tiffany Coburn, Phil Nitz, The Orquesta Sinfonica Cristiana de El Salvador, A Una Voz, The Almeida Duo, The Country Gentlemen Jazz Band, and serves as the principal percussionist in Sacred Winds and The Somerset Big Band. He has presented clinics at a variety of schools and universities in the United States, El Salvador, and Brazil. Mr. Hopper is also an active composer and arranger, having written for and taught various groups at the middle, high school, and university levels. Mr. Hopper is a best-selling composer, with his compositions “Right Track,” “Ghost Garden,” “Bolado,” and “You Can’t Get There From Here,” as well as his collection of snare drum solos, “Five on 5,” published through C. Alan Publications. In 2020, his first book of drum set etudes, "Wheels Up,” was also added to the C. Alan catalog. In 2015, Mr. Hopper was named the the winner of the Heartland Marimba Festival’s Young Composer Competition for his piece, “Island Market.”
At Southwestern, Mr. Hopper directs the award winning SWHS Percussion Ensemble, and oversees the marching and symphonic percussion sections. Mr. Hopper’s groups have performed at the Elk Grove Percussion Festival in Chicago, Illinois; The Lassiter Percussion Symposium in Atlanta, Georgia; The KASA Conference in Louisville, Kentucky; the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina; the 2017 and 2022 Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana; and the 2020 Kentucky Music Educators Association Conference in Louisville, Kentucky.
Mr. Hopper holds a Bachelors in Music Education as well as a Masters in Percussion Performance from Campbellsville University in Campbellsville, Kentucky, and is currently a doctoral candidate at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. He has professional affiliations with the Kentucky Music Educators Association, and the Percussive Arts Society. Mr. Hopper is a proud endorser of Mapex/Majestic Percussion, Beetle Practice Pads, Black Swamp Percussion, and Vertical Snare Drums. He currently resides in Somerset, Kentucky with his wife Sarah, son Jack, and their cats Bossa and Thelonious.
