Hailing from New Orleans LA, Brad Broomfield is, first and foremost, a student of the world’s diversity of cultural expressions. As a culturalist and creative, Brad specializes in drum and dance traditions emanating from West Africa, the Muslim world, and their respective diasporas, with a particular focus on the Caribbean and its ties to south Louisiana. His studies have led him to research music and dance with recognized culture-bearers in and from Ghana, Cuba, Brazil, Haiti, Honduras, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Spain, and India. Brad previously taught Afro-Cuban drumming for the African Rhythms Drum & Dance Troupe at UPenn and performed with Philadelphia’s renowned Kulu Mele African Dance & Drum Ensemble, as well as with the Arab cultural organization Al-Bustan. Currently, Brad is a member of New Orleans’ premier Afro-Brazilian music and dance institution, Casa Samba, and he has also performed with other New Orleans-based African dance groups such as N’Fungola Sibo and Nkiruka, as well as having toured as a drummer with the internationally-acclaimed, modern Afro-Caribeña group, ÌFÉ.

Brad also has an extensive background in western classical music. Before returning to the US in 2020, he was the Percussion and Music Theory Teacher at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Jerusalem, Palestine. Before that, Brad was the Principal Percussionist/Timpanist of the Jordanian National Orchestra, as well as the Director of Western & Arab Percussion at the National Conservatory of Music in Amman. Prior to moving to the Middle East, he toured Central America with Youth Orchestra of the Americas and appeared on their Latin Grammy Award-winning album. Brad received his masters degree from Temple University studying with the principal players of the Philadelphia Orchestra percussion and timpani sections, including the late Alan Abel, with additional studies with the principal percussionist of the New York Philharmonic. Immediately following graduate studies Brad toured internationally as Featured Percussionist/Snare Drum Soloist with the Tony and Emmy Award-winning Broadway show “Blast!” He received his bachelors degree from University of Louisiana at Lafayette, during which time he was a 4x runner-up of the PAS international snare drum competition and performed as a member of the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra. Currently, Brad can be found playing percussion with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and OperaCréole.

As a solo artist, Brad has performed or taught masterclasses internationally at universities in Brazil, South Africa, Thailand, and China where he toured nationally and was a featured artist and adjudicator for the China International Percussion Festival. Stateside, Brad has been a guest clinician with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Temple University, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, as well as the National Youth Orchestra of the USA at Carnegie Hall, among others.

Brad is a graduate of Brother Martin High School where he was a proud drumline section leader under his first percussion teacher and band director, the late DCI and Louisiana hall of fame educator, Marty Hurley. When not performing or teaching, Brad enjoys going to festivals, learning world history, and cooking and eating Creole food with family and friends.