Jaden Teague-Núñez on mission to bring steelpan into the mainstream

Jaden Teague-Núñez is a musician on a mission. The 17-year-old junior at DeKalb High School hopes to spread awareness about the steelpan — the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago — and help to mainstream its use as a solo instrument in classical music, jazz and other genres.

He’s already off to a strong start toward this goal. In February 2024, Teague-Núñez became the first steelpan player to win the Crain-Maling Foundation CSO Young Artists Competition. Presented by the League of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association and the Negaunee Music Institute at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the prestigious competition offers top young soloists from across Illinois the chance to perform at Symphony Center.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect to even make the finals, let alone win the whole thing,” said Teague-Núñez of the experience. “It was like a dream come true, and not just for me, but also being able to expose the steelpan to wide ranges of audiences and to be what I believe is the first steelpan player to perform as a soloist with the CSO. I believe this will do great things for being able to showcase the steelpan to wide audiences and show that it’s a respectable instrument, and that it can be used in so many other genres.”

As last year’s Young Artists Competition winner, Teague-Núñez will be the featured soloist with members of the CSO and conductor Thomas Wilkins in concerts for school groups and family audiences on May 2-3. He also will perform with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and conductor Jerry Hou in a March 17 concert titled “Impact,” which showcases current participants in and alumni of the Negaunee Music Institute’s educational programs.

With roots in West African music, the steelpan originated in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago. A chromatically pitched percussion instrument, it was first crafted from 200-liter industrial drums; the modern steelpan is made of high-quality steel, with dents hammered into the pan for resonance. Jaden’s father, Liam Teague, is a renowned steelpan soloist who hails from Trinidad and is currently a professor of music and director of steelpan studies at Northern Illinois University. He gave Jaden his first steelpan around the age of 8. “I ended up falling in love with it,” Teague-Núñez recalled.

Jaden’s mother, Lorena Núñez, is the former principal viola of the Panama National Symphony, and she met Teague when he performed as a soloist with the orchestra. Jaden was born in Panama City, Panama, and the family moved to the United States in 2011. Exposed to many musical styles throughout his youth — from classical to calypso, samba to soca — Teague-Núñez plays several other instruments besides steelpan, including piano, drums and various other percussion instruments.

As a steelpan soloist, Teague-Nuñez has performed with the Humboldt State University Steelband in Arcata, California; at the Inside Out Steelband Festival in Austin, Texas, and with the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra in DeKalb, Illinois. He has also performed with the Northern Illinois University Steelband, at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Indianapolis and at the Illinois Music Education Association Conference. Named as a 2025 YoungArts winner with distinction in the classical/percussion category by the National Foundation for the Advancement of Artists, Teague-Núñez earned a coveted spot at the National YoungArts Week in Miami last January.

For his upcoming performances at Symphony Center, Teague-Núñez will reprise the piece he played in last year’s Young Artists Competition: A Visit to Hell, written by Liam Teague when he was about Jaden’s age. Originally a solo work for tenor steelpan, the piece has been arranged for solo steelpan and orchestra by American composer Dr. Jamie Whitmarsh. Teague-Núñez will perform this version with the Civic Orchestra and members of the CSO, respectively.

The four-movement, story-driven composition begins with funereal music, followed by the protagonist’s journey to hell, encounter with the devil and attempted escape. “What I really like about the ending is that you don’t really know whether he actually escaped, or he got caught,” said Teague-Núñez. “I’ve even asked my dad sometimes, and he’s always like, ‘I don’t know.’ ”

Looking forward to his March appearance at Symphony Center, Teague-Núñez said, “I’m just really excited to get back on that stage,” adding that his previous performance with the Civic Orchestra in the final round of the Young Artists Competition was “an excellent experience.”

As for his CSO debut in May, “I’m just so excited to be able to perform and rehearse with one of the best orchestras in the world, as it’s been a dream of mine for so long,” he said. “I still remember my first concert, it was the CSO performing Carl Orff’s Carmina burana, and when I came out of that, I was just in amazement. I was like, ‘How can music sound like that?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, I want to perform with that orchestra.’”

When asked about his future plans, Teague-Núñez aims to continue performing as a soloist, not only on steelpan, but also on piano and percussion. “But what I really want, ideally, is not just for steelpan to become mainstream, but for it to become the norm in musical society,” he said.

In the future of which he dreams, the steelpan will be a common solo instrument with world-class ensembles from the Berlin Philharmonic to the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. “I’d love to show other people that you can for sure have a career in this instrument, if you really want to,” he said.