David Skidmore is a Grammy Award-winning percussionist, composer, and musical entrepreneur. David is a dedicated advocate for the music of our time, having commissioned, premiered, and performed dozens of new works by many of the great composers of the 20th and 21st century.

In 2005, David co-founded Third Coast Percussion, an ensemble that has performed hundreds of concerts across the country, presents an annual concert season at home in Chicago, teaches musicians of all ages and experience levels, and has commissioned dozens of new works. Called “vibrant” and “superb” by Alex Ross of The New Yorker, Third Coast Percussion was named Ensemble-in-Residence at the University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center in 2013.

David’s compositions are performed regularly in concert halls and universities across the country. In 2011, his multi-movement work Common Patterns in Uncommon Times was commissioned from Frank Lloyd Wright scholar Sidney K. Robinson to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Taliesin, home of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. In May of 2007 his piece, Unknown Kind, was premiered at Carnegie Hall. He has also received commissions from the Rush Hour Concert Series in Chicago, and leading percussion soloists and pedagogues including Mark Ford (University of North Texas), Dr. John Parks (Florida State University), Omar Carmenates (Furman University), Dr. T. Adam Blackstock (Troy University), and Peter Martin. David was awarded 1st prize in the 2005 Percussive Arts Society Composition Contest and 2nd prize in the 2004 contest.

David currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Chicago Chapter of the
Recording Academy, and as the Secretary of the Board of Directors for Chamber Music America.