Sherwood “Bud” Berthold has been the Principal Timpanist of the Mississippi Symphony and the Mississippi Opera Orchestras since 1982. He has also worked extensively in orchestras and bands throughout the south as a freelance timpanist and percussionist. Mr. Berthold has appeared as featured soloist with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra and several other regional orchestras and ensembles, performing many of the most popular solo concerti and other significant works for Solo Timpani. Mr. Berthold holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in performance from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where he studied with Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Timpanist Fred D. Hinger and New York Philharmonic Principal Percussionist Walter E. Rosenberger.
Along with his full schedule as a professional timpanist and private instructor, Mr. Berthold is also an experienced touring performer and clinician. He is very much in demand as a freelance jazz artist and studio musician on the drum set and on Latin percussion. His extreme versatility allows him to fit easily into any musical setting. Mr. Berthold has performed clinics and solo performances at numerous Percussive Arts Society Day of Percussion events and regularly appears as featured timpanist drummer and percussionist at New Stage Theater, the Mississippi Brass & Percussion, the Capitol City Stage Band, and the Jackson Music Awards, as well as in his own acoustic jazz project, the Plus1 Jazz Trio. He has performed either on stage or in the recording studio with many well-known artists, including Hannah Belle, Deana Martin, Bill Murphy, Ray Charles, Dionne Warwick, Rita Coolidge, Marvin Hamlisch, Guy Hovis, B.B. King, Denise LaSalle, Percy Sledge, Ray Stevens, and Greg “Fingers” Taylor.