We feature the winner of the 2024 Crain-Maling Foundation CSO Young Artists Competition, steelpan soloist Jaden Teague-Núñez from DeKalb. He joins pianist Austyn Menk and violinist Neal Kotamarty Eisfeldt in music of Jan Bach, Kevin Bobo, and Jaden’s father Liam Teague.
Jaden Teague-Núñez is 17 years old and was born in Panama City, Panama. The son of Trinidadian and Panamanian parents, he began studying steelpan and piano at age 8 and 10, respectively. He became the first ever steelpan soloist to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra after winning the Crain-Maling Foundation CSO Young Artists Competition in 2024. In 2025, he was named a YoungArts Winner with Distinction (classical percussion) by the National Foundation for the Advancement of Artists. His work has been covered by Chicago’s WGN Television and a several newspapers which include the Trinidad & Tobago Newsday and the Trinidad Guardian.
He has also guested with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Fox Valley Orchestra, the Wheaton Municipal Band, and the Northern Illinois University Steelband; and has performed for the Nassau Music Society in the Bahamas and at the 50th anniversary of Crop Over in Barbados. Teague-Núñez played at the 2025 Percussive Arts Society International Convention and at the 2023 Tuba Bach Festival, and appears with his father Liam Teague as the duo TNTeague. He has also collaborated with virtuoso pianist Jodie Desalvo on her Piano Talks concert series.
He is a senior at DeKalb High School and also practices mixed martial arts at United Elite MMA.
Jaden Teague-Núñez previously appeared on Introductions performing with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago in April 2024. Neal Kotamarty Eisfeldt has appeared on the show with Music Institute of Chicago chamber groups in August 2025 and in October 2023. He is set to do a solo live recital of his own on December 20, 2025.
Video: “Bach Talk” by Jan Bach, performed by Jaden Teague-Núñez and Elizabeth (Poppy) Song at the 2025 National YoungArts Week.
