Jaden Teague-Núñez making pan history in Chicago

Andrew Martin

THE awards and accolades are starting to pile up for Chicago-area pannist and musician Jaden Teague-Núñez.

The young pannist made history early in 2024 by becoming the first pan player to win the Crain-Mailing Foundation Chicago Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition.

Teague-Nunez’s historic victory featured his performance of the challenging composition A Visit to Hell for steelpan solo and orchestra by his father, the Trinidad-born Liam Teague (director of steelpan studies and professor of music at Northern Illinois University). It was arranged by Dr Jamie Whitmarsh.

Teague-Núñez’s performance with the Chicago Civic Orchestra was widely celebrated, leading one competition judge to remark, “What a treat to be able to hear this amazing young man and to see the future of the pan in such capable hands!”

On the heels of his concerto competition success, Teague-Núñez has continued his pursuit of musical and academic excellence, and was recently named a 2025 YoungArts winner with distinction in classical/percussion by the National Foundation for the Advancement of Artists (aka YoungArts).

Teague-Núñez, 17, was selected a YoungArts award winner through a highly competitive application, reviewed by panels of esteemed, discipline-specific artists in a rigorous adjudication process. As a 2025 YoungArts award winner, Teague-Núñez joins a community of artists who are offered creative and professional development support not just in the near term but throughout their careers.

“We’re thrilled to award our largest-ever cohort of artists, selected from a record-breaking number of applications this year,” said YoungArts president and CEO Clive Chang. “We hope this recognition provides these young people with the encouragement to keep pursuing their artistry, and the assurance that YoungArts will be there as a source of support and community for the rest of their lives.”

As a winner with distinction, Teague-Núñez will participate (all expenses paid) in National YoungArts Week from January 5-12, 2025 in Miami, Florida, USA. During the week, participants will have opportunities to share their own work, which is further evaluated for cash awards of up to US$10,000; experience interdisciplinary classes and workshops; and receive mentorship from leading artists in their fields. The experience and opportunity for YoungArts winners is intense and possibly overwhelming.

But Teague-Núñez is taking in the moment in his stride.

“I am very proud to have been named a winner with distinction for the National YoungArts competition, considering it is also my first time participating in a national competition, let alone one that is so prestigious.”

YoungArts is unique in that it supports and mentors winning students on a near and long-term basis. In fact, for the duration of his career, Teague-Núñez is now eligible for a variety of support from YoungArts, including exclusive creative and professional development support, microgrants and financial awards and presentation opportunities in collaboration with major venues and cultural partners nationwide; and to become part of an intergenerational network of past award winners.

The focus on networking and career development are some of the key factors separating YoungArts from other artist-support organisations, and appeals to Teague-Núñez’s future career ambitions.

“What I’ve always wanted to do is to introduce the steelpan to new audiences and educate them about the capabilities of this beautiful instrument,” he said. “YoungArts, I believe, is an amazing opportunity to achieve this goal, and I really hope that this intensive programme will attract more people to the pan and further elevate its popularity.”

Teague-Núñez is part of a high-achieving family, as his mother, Lorena Núñez, is an accomplished violist and formerly principal violist of the Panama National Symphony Orchestra, and his father, Liam Teague, as well as being a professor of music, is an internationally known steelpan virtuoso. He has a nine-yeaar-old sister as well.

With such an accomplished family it can be hard to stand out at times.

But Teague-Núñez is doing just that: forging his own path.

“I’m proud that I get to make history by being one of the first (possibly the first) steelpan players to be recognised as a YoungArts Winner with Distinction, and I still aim to achieve more in the future,” he said.

After National YoungArts Week, Teague-Núñez is further eligible to be nominated to become a US Presidential Scholar in the Arts, one of the highest honours given to high-school seniors by the president of the US.

If past performance is any future indication, it seems entirely possible he will earn this and many other awards and prizes. With young artists the likes of Jaden Teague-Núñez, the future of steelpan is in good hands, and one can only be excited by their continued achievements and developments of the art form in the US, the Caribbean and the globe.

For more information on YoungArts and youth development programmes, see https://youngarts.org/

Dr Andrew Martin is an ethnomusicologist, percussionist, pan player and professor of music at Inver Hills College in St Paul, Minnesota.

 

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