Michael McSweeney is a musician, band leader, educator, and arts administrator. He earned Bachelors degrees in Percussion Performance and Arts Administration from the University of Kentucky, studying under renowned percussionist and educator James Campbell and arts administrator Dr. Rachel Shane. He also earned a Masters in World Music from Northern Illinois University where he had the opportunity to study with Mike Mixtacki, Liam Teague, Robert Chapell, Omar Almusfi, Rodrigo Villanueva, and more. In both his academic and professional careers, he has performed in various areas of the United States as well as in Ghana, Trinidad, Colombia, and Bali with a wide variety of experience including Salsa (and other traditional and popular forms of Afro-Cuban music), Ewe drumming and dance, Rock, Pop, Musical Theatre, Steel Pan, Calypso, World Fusion, Jazz, Classical and Modern Orchestral Music, and more. In addition to running his Chicago- and DMV-based Salsa & Latin Variety band Costas Colectivo since 2016, he is an active freelance performer and can be seen performing with a wide variety of groups in the area.

As an educator, he has worked with drum/percussion, piano, and steel pan students in private lessons, group classes, masterclasses, camps, public school programs, and more in Chicago, Kentucky, Baltimore, and Washington, DC. No matter the setting, he is always excited by the opportunity to pull from his varied experience to help foster an environment of creative musicality and empowerment, allowing the student to discover their own potential as well as the instrument(s) themselves.