Ted Atkatz
California State University - Long Beach - United States
Overview
Born in Queens, New York, Edward “Ted” Atkatz began his studies at the age of ten at the Bloomingdale House of Music and later attended the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division. He then studied with Tom Gauger at Boston University. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in percussion performance and music education magna cum laude, he spent a year teaching music in elementary schools in Worcester, Massachusetts.
While attending graduate school at the New England Conservatory of Music, Ted was invited to participate in the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in 1995 and 1996. Ted earned a professional studies degree at Temple University, where he worked with Alan Abel of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
He has performed with the Boston Symphony, the Boston Pops, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, the Harrisburg Symphony, and the New Hampshire Symphony. Ted was a member of the New World Symphony in Florida and has been a member of the percussion faculty at DePaul University since September 1998. He was appointed to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's percussion section in October 1997 and joined the Orchestra as principal percussionist that December.
Ted Atkatz is the founder of and frontman of the Chicago-based band NYCO as songwriter and lead vocalist, as well as playing keyboards and guitar. Atkatz left the CSO in 2006 to devote himself full-time to NYCO. The band released its debut album, Two, in 2005. Also an avid long-distance runner, Mr. Atkatz ran the Chicago Marathon in 2001 with a time of 2:59:32.