Dr. Kyle Forsthoff is the Artist/Teacher in Classical Percussion at the University of Rhode Island, where he teaches applied Percussion lessons, Percussion Methods, directs the Percussion Ensemble, and teaches music courses in the General Education curriculum. Kyle is also an instructor at The Rhody Center for World Music and Dance and has given solo recitals, workshops, and masterclasses throughout the region and abroad. Kyle performs regularly with the Celtic band Fellswater, the Island Time Steel Band, and has performed as a guest with Verdant Vibes and the Boston New Music Initiative. Kyle is the Chapter President of the Rhode Island Percussive Arts Society and is a Percussion Manager for RIMEA.

Kyle is an active scholar, performer, and teacher of Irish Traditional Music and other frame drum traditions, having performed and taught throughout the US, Europe, and in Asia. An active member of New England’s Fife & Drum community, Kyle performs with both the Kentish Guards and Grand Republic Fife & Drum Corps, teaches the William Diamond Junior Fife & Drum Corps, and is on the Executive and Archives committees of the Company of Fifers and Drummers. In 2018, Kyle performed at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo with the Middlesex County Volunteers Fife & Drum Corps and as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with Fellswater.

Kyle has previously held positions at Rhode Island College, the University of Kentucky, Morehead State University, and Capital University. He holds degrees from the University of Kentucky and Arizona State University, is a member of ASCAP, and is a proud endorser of Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets, Cooperman frame drums, and Yamaha percussion instruments.