Virgil Donati

Virgil Donati is one of those drummers other drummers talk about in hushed tones, and once you hear him you understand why. The Australian-born musician, who plays traditional grip and is fluent at the keyboard too, built Planet X with Derek Sherinian and wrote most of that band's material. That composer-first mindset is what wins me over; he's not just a technician hammering out fills, he thinks structurally about the whole piece. Born in Melbourne in 1958, he's spent decades as a session player and educator who clearly treats rhythm as a serious discipline. I'd point any aspiring player straight to his catalog as a masterclass.

Name (English)

Virgil Donati

Name (Japanese)

ヴァージル・ドナティ

Reading

ゔぁーじる・どなてぃ

Born

October 22, 1958 (age 67)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Libra / Dog

Origin

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Occupation

drummer / pianist / session musician

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttps://www.virgildonati.com/
• Xhttps://x.com/virgil_donati
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%B4%E3%82%A1%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%83%89%E3%83%8A%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3

Tags

• Victoria
• drummer
• pianist
• session musician

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.