Percussionist Mell Csicsila has been a dynamic presence on the Cleveland musical scene for over 20 years. A native of Northeast Ohio, he can be heard frequently performing as a soloist and principal percussionist with Carl Topilow's Cleveland Pops Orchestra and as a first-call musician at Cleveland's Playhouse Square Theatre Foundation. Mell has backed a number of artists including Johnny Mathis, Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett, the Moody Blues and Yes, and supported the national tours of many Broadway musicals including Wicked, The Producers, Hairspray, and Mary Poppins. Beyond traditional classical music, he has appeared on drums and mallets in world fusion concerts with master artists like South Indian percussion virtuoso Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Native American flutist R. Carlos Nakai, Eastern European and Klezmer groups, and a with number of local jazz and blues groups.
MDC playing Aphorisms

Mr. Csicsila has made over one hundred performances as a percussion soloist and recitalist where he has performed both serious concert literature and novelty and ragtime pieces. In 2005, he performed the US premiere of Bertold Hummel’s Aphorisms on BACH, Op. 105 with the Trinity Chamber Orchestra. Beyond solo performances, Mell frequently performs in a percussion duo with Andrew Pongracz as part of duo ANIME.

Mr. Csicsila holds both Bachelor's and Master's degrees in music from Cleveland State University, and has pursued additional graduate study at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He received his classical percussion training from the percussion section of the Cleveland Orchestra, has studied drumset with Bob McKee (The Mike Douglas Show) and George Lawrence (Poco), and has explored South Indian and World Music hand percussion techniques as well. As a conductor, Mell has led the Lakewood Hometown Band and Canton Concert Band, and was the assistant conductor of the Kent Stark Concert Band and "All-Ohio" State Fair Band for several years.

In addition to his performance credits, Mr. Csicsila is an active teacher and clinician. He has been on faculty at Cuyahoga Community College since 1995 and also taught at the Kent State University Stark Campus. Mell is a Teaching Artist for the Cleveland Orchestra's arts-integrated Learning Through Music program and has also created and presented a number of the orchestra's Musical Rainbow programs at Severance Hall and at venues through out Northeast Ohio. He has presented clinic sessions for members of the Percussive Arts Society and the Ohio Music Education Association and develops and presents special educational projects and clinics for other arts organizations.