JOHN SHAW has been the principal percussionist with The Florida Orchestra since 1996. He is also the principal percussionist with the Eastern Festival of Music – the new incarnation of a long standing festival for which he previously served for 17 years. Shaw earned a B.M. from Florida State University, where he studied with Gary Werdesheim, and a M.M. from Temple University as a student of noted Philadelphia Orchestra percussionist Alan Abel.

Over the past 26 years he has performed several concerti with The Florida Orchestra – including Joseph Schwantner’s Concerto for Percussion, Bela Bartók’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Percussion, James MacMillan’s Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, and Tan Dun’s Water Concerto. His steel drum band, the Tampa Bay Steel Orchestra, was featured with The Florida Orchestra in 2005 and 2009.

With his wife, Anna Kate Mackle – principal harpist for The Florida Orchestra and Eastern Festival of Music – he has commissioned several new chamber works for harp and percussion. Two such pieces, Nathan Daughtrey’s Labyrinth of Light and Michael Ippolito’s Wand’ring Fire, received their world premieres in Greensboro, NC in 2018 and 2022, respectively.

Additionally, Shaw has taught at St. Petersburg College since 1996. He has performed with such artists as Cynthia Erivo, Sting, Seal, Idina Menzel, and Frank Sinatra, Jr., as well as Broadway touring productions of White Christmas and Anything Goes.
As an artist for Zildjian, Pearl/Adams, Grover and Freer Percussion, Shaw presented
masterclasses at the Percussive Arts Society’s 2010 and 2013 International Conventions. He and Anna Kate live in St. Petersburg.

Photo by Thee Photo Ninja