Blue Man Group Boston Announce Finalists For 6th Annual Drum-Off

Blue Man Group Boston announced today the five finalists that will perform at their sixth annual Drum-Off competition on July 6th at 5:00 pm at the free Summer Block Party at The Lawn on D in Boston.

The only drum competition of its kind in the Boston area, the Blue Man Group Boston Drum-Off will feature the finalists performing a 3-minute solo jam in front of the festive Summer Block Party audience and the judges. The judges will include members of the Blue Man Group band and 2018 Drum-Off winner Tyler Pedersen. Once a winner is determined, he or she will then perform with Blue Man Group and will receive $5,000 in prizes from Blue Man Group, DW, Sabian and Vic Firth.

The finalists are:

Alex Brander, 29, lives in Brighton, MA and is from South Yarmouth, MA

Christina Edwards, 19, lives in and is from Dorchester, MA

Connor Kent, 27, lives in Boston, MA and is from Fullerton, CA

Cyzon Griffin, 23, lives in the Bronx, NY and is from Niagara Falls, NY

Donovan McLean, 24, lives in and is from Hyde Park, MA

The finalists beat out 13 other semi-finalists to move to the next round and were selected out of a total of 44 applicants who entered the competition. Christina becomes the fourth female finalist in the six-year history of the competition and Connor is the only Berklee College of Music student who will be graduating this June with a Masters of Music Degree. Cyzon and Donovan are self-taught musicians who are currently pursuing careers as drummers. Alex studied classical percussion and now performs & records professionally and was a semi-finalist in the 2015 competition as well.

"The drumming talent we've seen during this competition has been phenomenal so we know that these five finalists are going to put on a great show during the Summer Block Party on July 6th," said Scott Toomey, Blue Man Group Boston's Music Director. "Along with the drummers, this is a great opportunity to see Blue Man Group do a live pop-up performance with one finalist performing with them right after they've won, so it's a fun event for all ages."

This year's competition will be hosted by Danny Balel of ImprovBoston. ImprovBoston has been New England's leading theater and school dedicated to the art of comedy in all forms.