Wade Culbreath
principal timpani/percussion
An active recording artist, Wade Culbreath has contributed to world premiere recordings of works by Esa Pekka Salonen, John Adams and Steve Reich.
Wade has performed as timpanist and percussionist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, participating in nine LA Phil recordings on the Sony Classical and Deutsche Grammophon labels and touring with the Philharmonic to New York and Europe. Through his involvement with the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, Wade has worked with Pierre Boulez, Mauricio Kagel, Tan Dun and Esa Pekka Salonen, performing their works at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Ojai Music Festival and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.
During the summer, he performs with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra as principal percussion. Wade toured Japan and Brazil with the HBO and has contributed to many of their recordings on Philips Classics.
Wade is also principal timpani with the Pasadena Symphony and has performed with touring ballet companies such as the Bolshoi Ballet, the Dance Theater of Harlem and the American Ballet Theater.
Wade has performed on the soundtracks for hundreds of motion pictures for such Hollywood composers as Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, James Newton Howard, Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman, James Horner and John Williams, among others.
A longtime fan of the music of Steve Reich, Wade had the opportunity to work with the composer on two recent recordings for the Nonesuch label: the world premiere of You Are (Variations) and Daniel Variations, with subsequent performances in New York and Los Angeles.
Wade received his Master of Music degree from the University of Southern California and Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, where he was awarded the Performer’s Certificate. His instructors have included John Beck, Arthur Press, Kenneth Watson and Massie Johnson.
He is a member of the American Federation of Musicians Local 47 and the Recording Musicians Association of Los Angeles.
Wade joined LACO as acting principal in the 2007-08 season, accompanying the Orchestra on its 2008 European tour. He began the 2008-09 season as acting principal and won the permanent post in auditions in March 2009.
