Douglas Waddell, Percussion

Acting Principal

Hometown: South Bend, Indiana

Joined Lyric Orchestra in 1998

Education: Undergraduate and Graduate degrees from DePaul University

Mr. Waddell is member of the Grant Park Symphony and assistant principal percussionist at the Chicago Lyric Opera. He has been timpanist with the renowned Music of the Baroque ensemble since 1983, and as a member of the Contemporary Chamber Players of Chicago has performed and recorded a wide variety of 20th century chamber works. Mr. Waddell has performed throughout the United States, Europe and Japan with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and can be heard all over the world on hundreds of television and radio commercial jingles. He has appeared as soloist with the Grant Park Symphony, Symphony of the Shores and the Contemporary Chamber Players of Chicago.

But Mr. Waddell’s greatest achievement is directing, along with his wife Patricia Dash, the Chicago Symphony’s Percussion Scholarship Group (PSG), a program that gives extraordinarily talented inner city youth free percussion instruction and performance experiences at Symphony Center from grades 4 through 12. Launched in 1995 as an experimental project for Chicago Public School children to explore their musical ability, the PSG over the past 20 years has showcased and developed the amazing talent of many of the city’s youth.

You can see and hear this amazing group at: