Jaden Teague-Núñez, a sophomore at DeKalb High School and son of Board of Trustees Professor, Presidential Research, Scholarship and Artistry Professor and Head of Steelpan Studies Liam Teague, won the competition in February performing selections from “A Visit to Hell” composed by his father and orchestrated by Jamie Whitmarsh.
Jaden performed selections from that piece with the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra at their Halloween Concert last year.
Jaden was one of three finalists who performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as the final portion of the Young Artists Concerto Competition. All three finalists’ performances will be heard on WFMT-FM’s Introductions, Saturday, April 20 at 11 a.m.. You can also subscribe to Introductions as a podcast.
By winning the Young Artists Concerto Competition, Jaden will perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at a concert in their 2024-2025 season and have a solo recital aired on Introductions.
Jaden moved with his family to DeKalb from Panama when he was three-years-old, where his mother, Lorena Núñez was the principal viola of the Panama National Symphony. His father, Liam, in addition to his work at NIU, is a world-renowned steelpan performer and composer.
WGN-TV profiled Jaden after he won the competition.
The event will be held at Boutell Memorial Concert Hallin NIU’s Music Building and will feature the world renowned NIU Steelband (Liam Teague, director), All-University Steelband (Jalen Charles and K-Lee Blackwell, directors), Community School of the Arts (CSA) Steelband (Yuko Asada, director), and the NIU Steelpan Studio.
The steelbands will collaborate a phenomenal group of guest artists.
The fantastic duo of Reggie and Mardra Thomas (vocalist) will once again grace the steelband audience with their brilliance. Professor Reggie Thomas is the current coordinator of the internationally recognized NIU Jazz Studies program and director of the acclaimed NIU Jazz Orchestra. Reggie is retiring at the end of the spring academic semester.
Sixteen-year-old DeKalb High School (DHS) student Jaden Teague-Núñez recently won the 2024 Crain-Maling Foundation Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Young Artists Concerto Competition on the steelpan, and will make his NIU Steelband debut as guest piano soloist on George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. 2024 commemorates the 100th anniversary of this brilliant composition, and the NIU Steelband will premiere steelpan alum Avery Attzs’ arrangement of it with Thomas Bough, professor of music, conductor of NIU’s Wind Ensemble and director of athletic bands, at the helm.
Under the direction of Miranda Cordes, Dimensions Dance Academy, one of DeKalb’s premiere dance companies, will make their return to the NIU Steelband concert, as will the DeKalb High School Steelband led by Steve Lundin, DHS director of bands.
NIU Steelband Concert Featuring NIU Steelband, All-University Steelband, CSA Steelband and NIU Steelpan Studio Guest artists include: Reggie Thomas, Mardra Thomas, Jaden Teague-Núñez, Dimensions Dance Academy, Thomas Bough and DeKalb High School Steelband Sunday, April 21, 3 p.m. Boutell Memorial Concert Hall, NIU Music Building Tickets: go.niu.edu/arts-tickets
Three members of the NIU School of Music were honored with 2023 Artist Fellowship Awards from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
Liam Teague, NIU Board of Trustees Professor, Presidential Research, Scholarship and Artistry Professor and Head of Steelpan Studies and Robert Chappell, Distinguished Teaching Professor and Professor Emeritus were jointly awarded a $15,000 fellowship for music improvisation, and Bobby Broom, Associate Professor of Jazz Guitar and Jazz Studies also received a $15,000 fellowship for music improvisation.
Liam Teague
Robert Chappell
Bobby Broom
In all, artists from Illinois were awarded fellowships totaling $360,000. The Artist Fellowship Award program offers funding in eight categories and the winners were selected from a pool of 283 creative artists working in the disciplines of choreography, media arts, music composition, music improvisation, new performance forms, poetry, prose and scriptworks.
Governor JB Pritzker said, “Illinois’ artists are one of our strongest and most valuable resources, making a more creative and welcoming state for us even in the face of global and national challenges. Congratulations to each of these recipients on their hard work and to the Illinois Arts Council Agency for their steadfast support of the arts.”
Faculty Huskie Spotlight: Liam Teague, NIU Board of Trustees Professor, Presidential Research, Scholarship and Artistry Professor
While you might not think much of DeKalb brings to mind tropical islands, there is at least one strong tie between the cornfields and the Caribbean: The NIU Steelband.
The band has a strong and devoted following and much of its current popularity is owed to Professor of Music and Chair of Steelpan Studies Liam Teague. Teague is a world-renowned musician, often hailed as the “Paganini of the Steelpan.” A native of Trinidad and Tobago, he came to NIU as an undergraduate to join the university’s unique Steelpan Studies program and to play in the NIU Steelband, the longest-running steelband at any college or university in the United States.
Under the tutelage of program founder Al O’Connor and Cliff Alexis, Teague excelled as a performer and student. With their encouragement, he worked to become a professor in the School of Music and eventually direct the steelpan program, which to this day is the only program in the nation that offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in steelpan performance.
“Originally, I didn’t want to teach,” Teague said. “I wanted to focus on being a performer and a composer, but Al O’Connor saw something in me and he groomed me to take over when he retired. Once I started teaching, it opened new doorways to me and a respect for the teaching profession.”
Teague has performed all over the world, and had the honor in 2015 of performing with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. He has played with the St. Louis Symphony, Taiwan National Symphony and Czech National Symphony. In his native Trinidad he received the Hummingbird Silver Medal, one of the nation’s highest national honors, in recognition of his service to culture.
In April 2018, Teague was honored as an NIU Presidential Research, Scholarship and Artistry Professor. Recipients of the award are selected on the basis of significant and sustained scholarly or creative work, including the achievement of national or international reputation in their individual fields.
Janet Hathaway, former Director of the School of Music, credits Teague with not only being an excellent instructor and musician, but also with achieving the rare goal of increasing awareness of his instrument.
“Professor Teague has elevated this relatively young instrument and its pedagogy to a level where his graduates teach and perform across the United States, in the Caribbean, and Japan,” she said. “They follow in his path as performers, teachers and champions, and Professor Teague frequently performs with former students. His stature and teaching are such that NIU’s program continues to build on its strong reputation and earn greater prominence.”
“His profile as a performer and composer and his ability to attract excellent guest artists and collaborators ensures that his students, and the NIU community, are exposed to musicianship at a very high level,” she added.
Teague directs the 30-plus member NIU Steelband with Yuko Asada. The band performs regularly in concert here at NIU as well as at conventions, arts series and at public schools, colleges and universities.
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The concert will feature the NIU Steelband under the direction of Liam Teague and assisted by Yuko Asada, the All-University Steelband co-directed by Joshua Bedeau and Jalen Charles and the CSA Steelband directed by Asada.
Performing with the steelbands are the DeKalb High School Steelband directed by Steve Lundin, the NIU Jazz Orchestra directed by Reggie Thomas and the NIU Steelband 50th Anniversary Choir conducted by Mary Lynn Doherty.
The NIU Steelband was founded in 1973 by Al O’Connor, former associate dean of Music, and head of percussion studies. He was at the forefront of the development of the steelband art form in North America, and his pioneering work influenced the formation of steelband orchestras at educational institutions throughout the USA and Asia.
The NIU Steelband was the first actively performing steelband at an American university. Under the direction of O’Connor and the late Clifford Alexis—whom Al convinced to join the staff at NIU—the band made many significant and memorable appearances including its performances at Yankee Stadium; PASIC (Percussive Arts Society International Convention), where they were the first steelband to perform at the convention; World of Drumming Festival in Seoul (2002), and two tours of Taiwan.
In the early 1990s, together with Clifford Alexis, O’Connor was able to convince Lester Trilla, CEO of the Trilla Drum Company in Chicago, to implement a scholarship fund which would assist students primarily from the Caribbean to pursue music studies at NIU. Trilla agreed to do so, and through his philanthropy, a great number of students have been able to attain music degrees and go on to have successful careers in their respective homelands.
Liam Teague is Professor of Music and Director of Steelpan Studies at Northern Illinois University (NIU), where he also leads the renowned NIU Steelband. Teague is the recipient of an NIU Board of Trustees Professorship Award (2022) and a Presidential Research, Scholarship and Artistry Professor Award (2018).
Hailed as the “Paganini of the Steelpan”, his commitment to demonstrating the great musical possibilities of the steelpan has taken him to throughout the world, and he has received many awards from his homeland of Trinidad and Tobago, including the Hummingbird National Award (Silver) and the Ansa McAl Caribbean Award for Excellence. In 2022, The San Fernando City Council honored Teague with the Keys to the City of San Fernando, his hometown in Trinidad and Tobago.
Yuko Asada is a musical instrument technician and director of the NIU Community School of the Arts Steelband at Northern Illinois University. Yuko was first introduced to steelpan tuning by Ellie Mannette while studying for her Bachelor’s degree at West Virginia University. She further honed her skills and passion for steelpan by completing a Master of Music degree and a Performer’s Certificate specializing in steelpan construction from NIU, where she had the opportunity to work closely with Clifford Alexis.
The program includes a performance of “Still Here” dedicated to O’Connor, Alexis and Trilla.
Special guest performers include Permanent Representative of Belize to the Organization of American States (OAS), Ambassador Lynn Young and His Worship Junia Regrello, Mayor of the City of San Fernando, in Trinidad and Tobago. Other guest performers include Davon Roberts (drum set), Todd Donnelly (steelpan), Paul G. Ross (drum set), Ella Barribeau, Dzana Bogalijevik, Logan Bryant, KaLilah Chears, Naomi Dutton, Nat Garbe, Ethan Gonzalez, MJ Harr, Caroline Menzer, Emily Montelongo, Alexia Quinn, Korbyn Ringer, Clare Steffes, Michael Tuskey, Emma Vaughn, Olivia Wells, Josanne Francis, Evon Sams (saxophone), Khan Cordice (double second steelpans), Rich Holly, Greg Beyer, Ben Wahlund, Jean Christophe Leroy, Phil Beale, Mardra Thomas, Sean O’Connor, Chih-I Hsaio (erhu), Cornelius Johnson, Kenneth Joseph, Nicole Riordan and Nicolas Barrios.
Program
Brute Force
Arr. G. Allan O’Connor
Still Here
Evan Jacobson
Performance dedicated to G. Allan O’Connor, Dr. Clifford Alexis, and Les Trilla
NIU 50th Anniversary Choir
Mary Lynn Doherty, conductor
Sean O’Connor, narration
You Can Call Me Al
Paul Simon
Arr. Zahra Lake
Josanne Francis, soloist
DeKalb High School Steelband; Steve Lundin, director
Song to the Chiricahua
Clifford Alexis
Matthew Kiser, lead pan
Evon Sams, saxophone
Khan Cordice, double second steelpans
Address; Paul Kassel, Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts
Community School of the Arts (CSA) Steelband
Pan 2000 (prelude) – Funky Town
Cliff Alexis, Steven Greenburg
arr. Yuko Asada
NIU Steelband
Wood’n Steel
Robert Chappell
-Intermission-
Lovely Day
Bill Withers/ Skip Scarborough
Arr. Christian Melhado
