John Shaw

John Shaw is the principal percussionist for the Eastern Festival of Music and served for 17 seasons in the same position for the now-defunct Eastern Music Festival. He has been the principal percussionist with The Florida Orchestra since 1996. Shaw earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Florida State University, where he studied with Gary Werdesheim, and a Master of Music degree from Temple University as a student of noted Philadelphia Orchestra percussionist Alan Abel.

Mr. Shaw has been featured as a soloist multiple times over the past 30 years, having performed Joseph Schwantner’s Concerto for Percussion on three separate occasions—twice with The Florida Orchestra and once in Greensboro. In addition to the Schwantner, he has also performed Béla 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 in 2018 and 2022, respectively.

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