With a head full of rhythm and ears hungry for noise, Austin Birdy’s work behind the drums has inevitably become a vehicle of pure, unadulterated expression. He lives a life entrenched in his love for the finer details of the art form, now boasting an impressive performance history that extends to both the classical and contemporary fields.

 

Hailing from San Antonio, Texas but now based in NYC, Austin has spent the past two decades engulfed in his craft. Building a foundation in the marching arts while touring twice nationally with Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps, then furthering his studies with a Bachelor of Percussion from The Boston Conservatory under Nancy Zeltsman, Doug Perkins, and Keith Aleo. 

 

Fast forward to today, and Austin has performed hundreds of concerts and productions in the Northeast area - in venues like Symphony Space, Feinstein's 54 Below, SOB's, Carnegie Hall, Boston's Strand Theatre, Theatre Row, Vermont's Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center, Magic Hat stage at The Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion, John Hancock Hall, The Pollak Theatre, Harvard University, MIT, and The Boston Museum of Fine Arts. He has also made music with groups like the Brockton Symphony Orchestra, MassOpera, Axelrod Contemporary Ballet Theatre, Boston Theater Company, The Madison Theatre Series, NYU Tisch, Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble, Chelsea Theatreworks, Boston Ballet School, Charles River Wind Ensemble, Mass Arts Center, Boston Children's Theater, and has covered the drum or percussion role in 48 Youth/College/Regional/Off-Broadway productions, including an equity production at Boston's Tony Award-winning Huntington Theater Company. Most recently Austin assisted with music direction and orchestration on the SAG affiliated, Off-Broadway taping of Kyle Jarrow's cult-hit musical A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant. 

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Austin has worked under accomplished directors and production designers like Michael Greif (Rent, Dear Evan Hansen), and Tony Award Honoree Michael McElroy (Next to Normal, The Who's Tommy), for the 42-show run of Man in The Ring by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award recipient Michael Cristofer (The Shadow Box, The Witches of Eastwick, Mr. Robot) - Also under the baton of Lidiya Yankovskaya (Chicago Opera Theatre) for the workshop of Freedom Ride by Dan Shore before it's 2020 Chicago Opera premiere, and with seven-time Emmy Award winner Mark Salzman on the 2018 Boston workshop of his new musical Another Roll of The Dice. 

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In a cabaret setting, Austin has supported Broadway performers like Andy Mienus (Spring Awakening, Les Miserables, CW's The Flash), Jelani Remy (Back to the Future, The Lion King), Will Roland (Dear Evan Hansen, Billions), Nic Rouleau (Book of Mormon), Bradley Gibson (Hercules, Lion King), Sonya Balsara (Aladdin), Jojo Fleites (CW's The Winchesters), Marc Delacruz (Hamilton), Dawn Cantwell (Wicked, 1776, Sting's The Last Ship), Katerina McCrimmon (The Rose Tattoo), 

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He's also had the privilege of performing or recording with artists like Danny Blu (Echo Black, iTunes Top 100 Dance), blues guitarist Noé Socha, Hayden Fogle, Albanian pop artist JaneX, Acclaimed New Jersey duo Williams Honor, Pehuenche (Nacional Records), jazz-trombonist Bob McChesney (Ray Charles, Michael Jackson), The G Clefs (1950's Billboard Charting Doo-Wop from Boston, MA), Jason Treuting of Sō Percussion, Maria Lane, Gilian Eve, and CORDIS. Also on shows with acts like Brian Wilson's Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary tour, Machine Girl, RUBY (Pigface, Trent Reznor), MaddieJay, Downtown Boys, Trishes, Weakend Friends, as well as True Widow while drumming briefly for Elizabeth Colour Wheel (The Flenser). Additionally, Austin has played and helped organize 5 DIY tours with independent bands, performing in a slew of basements, bars, and small venues across 25 states. 

 

Austin’s diverse yet precise approach to drumming has led to collaboration with talented engineers like Benny Grotto (Ben Folds, Aerosmith), James Plotkin (Sunn O))), Oneohtrix Point Never), Perry Geyer (Robin Thicke, Sarah McLaughlin), Tony Maimone (Jeff Buckley), Miranda Serra G (PILE, 2018 Boston Music Awards Producer of The Year) and Grammy nominated engineers like Jeff Lipton (Bon Iver, Lake Street Dive, City and Colour) and JP Berreondo (Dave Chappelle). He tracked all of the percussion, as well as three drum sets in surround on Corpus Vice - the 2022 debut album from composer Eden Rayz (Moon Tooth, Third Eye Blind, cello on grammy-winning soundtrack Assassin's Creed Valhalla). Austin has also recorded material with Pehuenche, Noé Socha, JaneX, Nyol Manswell, Theatrely.com, Eden Rayz, Man in The Ring, Archie's Weird Parody, Teresa Hayden, Big Fuzzy, Kira McSpice, Aüva, Gamma Pope, Cyberbully Spaceship, and Dent.