Principal Percussionist
Maddi Shake joined the Arkansas Symphony as Principal Percussionist in 2021. She frequently performs as an extra with the Kansas City Symphony, and has also performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago where she was an associate member for the 2017/2018 and 2020/2021 seasons. In 2022, she was a percussionist with the Sunflower Music Festival in Topeka, KS, a 10-day long festival featuring orchestra, chamber ensembles, and jazz music, which includes distinguished musicians from orchestras across the US.
Maddi has spent two summers as a fellow at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, CA, and two additional summers at the Texas Music Festival in Houston, TX. While at Music Academy, she was a winner of the Keston MAX competition and will be performing with the London Symphony Orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda in November 2022.
Growing up in Indianapolis, IN, Maddi began her percussion studies with Paul Berns of the Indianapolis Symphony. She went on to earn a B.M. in performance from Roosevelt University in Chicago and a M.M. in performance from the Manhattan School of Music. Her past teachers include Chris Lamb, She-e Wu, Duncan Patton, Kyle Zerna, Vadim Karpinos, and Ed Harrison.
She also attended DePaul University for one year and studied with Cynthia Yeh and Eric Millstein. In her free time, she enjoys reading, running, exploring new cities, and hiking.
