Ted Atkatz is a renowned performer, educator, recording artist, and composer. He is the former Principal Percussionist and Assistant Timpanist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Ted now resides in Los Angeles, where he is the Director of Percussion Studies at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University at Long Beach. He also is the Director of the Percussion Department at the Colburn School and
is the Director of the Colburn Contemporary Ensemble. His non-profit organization, The Ted Atkatz Percussion Seminar (TAPS) has been held around the world, and this past summer hosted the TAPS LA Music Festival with public performances around the Los Angeles area.

His college studies began at Boston University and then New England Conservatory, where he studied with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. After receiving a master’s degree at NEC, Ted went on to Temple University to study with Alan Abel of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

As an active studio musician, Ted has performed on over 70 motion picture soundtracks, including “Frozen,” “The Jungle Book” and “Star Wars Episode IX.” Ted has performed with the Atlanta Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony, and the Santa Barbara Symphony. Ted is also an active singer and songwriter. His band NYCO has released three albums: Two (2005), Realize (2008), and Future Imperfect (2012). NYCO performed with the Alabama Symphony in 2018.