Principal Percussionist
Maddi Shake joined the Arkansas Symphony as Principal Percussionist in 2021. In the summers, she is a section percussionist with the Britt Festival Orchestra in Jacksonville, Oregon. Maddi has performed with various orchestras including the London Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Tulsa Symphony, New World Symphony, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago where she was an associate member for the 2017/2018 and 2020/2021 seasons. Other summer festival appearances include the Colorado Music Festival, Lakes Area Music Festival, and Sunflower Music Festival. As a student, Maddi spent two summers as a fellow at the Music Academy of the West, and two additional summers at the Texas Music Festival. While at Music Academy, she was a winner of the Keston MAX competition and performed in the percussion section of the London Symphony Orchestra 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 Orchestral 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 is an avid reader and enjoys running, exploring new cities, and hiking.
