Wesley Sumpter

Biography

Wesley Sumpter is a freelance musician, producer and educator based in Los Angeles, California. He has performed as a percussionist/timpanist with some of the world’s leading orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Mainly Mozart, Cabrillo Festival Orchestras, Houston Grand Opera and the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester, UK. Wesley is an avid chamber musician and is very passionate about performing contemporary/new music. He has worked with renown groups like the International Contemporary Ensemble (NYC), Alarm Will Sound, the Ojai Music Festival, Gateways Music Festival and is the founding member of Lineage Percussion. As a recording musician, he can be heard playing percussion and drumset on a number of the LA Phil’s recently released recordings including their 2021 Grammy-Award winning Charles Ives symphony cycle, the BBC Phil’s The Music of Pierre Sancan, the original motion picture soundtracks for West Side Story (2021) and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. As a drummer, Wesley is one of the founding members of the horn band Misnomer based out of Atlanta, GA and can be heard on all of their studio recordings. He has played the prominent drum book for Houston Grand Opera’s production of West Side Story and has played kit for the 2025 Mizzou International Composer’s Festival with Alarm Will Sound. He can also be heard playing kit on Icelandic singer, Laufey’s A Night At the Symphony at the Hollywood Bowl.