Greg Diethrich

Bitter Jester Music Festival Judge

Greg is a Highland Park, IL-based percussionist, music educator, and nonprofit leader. He is currently the Associate Director at Midwest Young Artists Conservatory. His areas of responsibility include working with leadership and staff, facilitating strategic planning, working in fundraising, and providing community relations and outreach. He also works on marketing/recruitment, program development, and operations.

He holds a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology and has studied music and culture from many parts of the world, including long-term fieldwork in India and in Trinidad. Greg is equally passionate about rock/funk, jazz, world music, and art music. He has been a visiting professor at a number of colleges and universities, and currently serves on the percussion faculty of the Music Institute of Chicago.

Greg has been a Bitter Jester judge since its inception in 2006 and enjoys coming back almost every single year to see the growth and originality of all the young musicians!