Artist bio

Elena Bonomo is a drummer, percussionist, band leader and music educator based in the greater NYC area. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, she holds a Bachelors Degree in Performance, Summa Cum Laude. Elena is an avid music lover whose style spans a number of genres from jazz to musical theater, to rock. Her versatility and finesse are what make her unique and suitable for a variety of work.

Most recently, Elena worked as a Band Leader on Holland America Cruise Lines, where she toured through Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, the Caribbean Islands and the Mediterranean. Elena has worked as a production manager and performer for Windish Music and Productions, leading groups and performing daily at Hershey Park, Canobie Lake Park and around the East Coast with street drumming group, Junk Rock. She has worked as a freelance drummer and percussionist with various artists in the greater Boston and NYC areas, including The Novel Ideas, Talay, Andrew Bordeaux and Ali McGuirk.

Elena’s notable performances have included appearances at The Blue Note NYC, Symphony Hall, the Berklee Performance Center, the Agganis Arena, the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center, South By Southwest, and the 2014 Fresh Grass Music Festival. In April 2013, Elena was chosen to represent Berklee internationally as a Student Ambassador, during which time she performed with students from the International College of Music in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She has toured nationally with Boston based Americana/Folk group, The Novel Ideas, with whom she also recorded a full length album, produced and engineered by Rick Parker (Lord Huron, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club). In January 2015, Elena became a Mission Jazz artist and a member of the Fellowship of the Swing; an artist advance held in Santa Barbara, California, led by Winnie Swalley and artist-in-residence Kendrick Scott.

Elena has studied privately with Neal Smith, Terri Lyne Carrington, Jamey Haddad, Ralph Peterson, and Bob Gullotti, and has shared the stage with Berklee Faculty Christine Fawson (DIVA Jazz Orchestra), Jacqui Naylor and Richie Goods (Chris Botti). Her greatest musical influences include Elvin Jones, Max Roach, Steve Jordan and Aaron Sterling.

Elena is currently working as an active musician in the NYC theater scene, where she lends her drumming to the Off-Broadway musicals Cagney, Chix 6 and A Taste of Things To Come. 

“Elena’s solo work is fluid and funky. She is polite, accurate, relaxed, and very consistent.” – Kenwood Dennard

—————————————

“Elena has a lot of patience and maturity, and her performance is a reflection of that. She is one of the ‘best’ young drummers I’ve heard in a long time.” – Neal Smith