Jason Ihnat is an accomplished performer, teacher, composer, and arranger. He has had the privilege of performing alongside Grammy-winning artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Paul Shaffer, and Johnny Mathis. Additionally, he has performed with the Detroit Opera Orchestra, the Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings, and is a tenured member of the Flint Symphony Orchestra. Ihnat also frequently performs with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, Dearborn Symphony Orchestra, International Symphony Orchestra, Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra, and the Michigan Philharmonic.
Ihnat serves as a part-time lecturer for music theory at the Eastern Michigan University School of Music. He has also been the drumline instructor for the EMU Marching Band since 2001. He maintains teaching studios at Novi and L’Anse Creuse High Schools. He has also been a guest instructor for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Civic Youth Ensembles. His compositions and arrangements have been performed at universities and high schools across Michigan and the United States.
Ihnat has had a celebrated, decades-long career in the marching percussion world. He was a performer with the DCI World Champion Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps in 1998 and was part of the Cadets’ percussion staff during their win of two Fred Sanford High-Percussion Trophies and three World Championships. Ihnat is now the Front Ensemble Coordinator for the Boston Crusaders, a position he has held since 2017, helping the corps achieve its first World Championship and Fred Sanford High-Percussion award in 2025.
Ihnat was also the director and co-founder of the two-time World Champion WGI ensemble, Eastside Fury. In recognition of his contributions to the winter percussion community, he was inducted into the Michigan Color Guard Circuit Hall of Fame in 2019. He currently serves as the front ensemble arranger for Redline Percussion in Canton, MI. In addition to his competitive drumline career, he spent 17 years as a performer and 10 years as the director (2007–2017) of the NFL’s Detroit Lions “Honolulu Boom” Drumline.
Ihnat earned his Master of Music in Music Composition from Eastern Michigan University, where he studied composition with renowned composer Dr. Anthony Iannaccone and percussion with Professor John Dorsey. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Wayne State University in Detroit, MI, where he studied percussion with Keith Claeys.
When he is not performing or teaching, Ihnat resides in Sterling Heights, MI, with his wife, Laura, their two children, two cats, and a fish.
Photo credit: Ray Riggs