The Department of Music at Coastal Carolina University and the Percussive Arts Society of South Carolina present the Festival of Steel on Saturday, April 13, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Wheelwright Auditorium. Tickets are $10, with CCU discounts available, and can be purchased at coastal.edu/tickets.

The Festival of Steel features performances from middle school and high school steel drum bands from throughout the state. Two hundred performers representing seven schools will perform a range of musical genres including soca, calypso, samba, bossa nova, salsa, and American pop tunes. Each band will have one hour to perform their program and receive a mini-workshop from adjudicators Liam Teague, Trinidadian composer, arranger, and performer; and Kristian Paradis, steelpan teacher and performer. This year’s festival will be the largest gathering since CCU hosted the first Festival of Steel in Spring 2020.

The festival will conclude with a finale performance featuring CCU’s CalypSamba Steel Band and high school musician Jaden Teague-Nunez as soloist on steel pan and piano. The band will perform several original compositions and arrangements by Teague and will feature Teague-Nunez on two classical pieces, including Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin.

Teague-Nunez, a student musician in DeKalb, Ill., recently won the Chicago Symphony’s 2024 Young Artist Concerto Competition, marking the first time the competition has been won by a pannist.

For more information, contact Jesse Willis, associate professor and director of percussion studies, at jwillis@coastal.edu or 843-349-2776.

Written by Sara Sobota, Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts