Craig McNutt

Praised by critics for his “colorful percussion sounds” (Boston Globe) and “crisp mallet work” (Providence Journal), Craig McNutt has worked with virtually all of Boston’s major musical groups, including the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops, Boston Ballet, Boston Lyric Opera, Odyssey Opera, Cantata Singers, A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra, and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra.   He is Principal Timpanist of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and performs regularly as Principal Timpanist with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.  In the contemporary music genre, Craig is the solo percussionist for Collage New Music, and has performed with Alea III, Boston Musica Viva and Dinosaur Annex.  Equally at home in the field of historical performance, he regularly performs on baroque timpani with the period instrument groups Boston Baroque, Handel and Haydn Society, and Boston Cecilia.

Mr. McNutt can be heard on over forty commercially released recordings, including three Grammy nominated albums on the BMOP/Sound Label, and has been featured as a soloist with the Rhode Island Philharmonic (Russell Peck’s Harmonic Rhythm) and Collage New Music (Steven Mackey’s Micro-Concerto.  Mr. McNutt holds degrees from the Hartt School of Music and Yale University, and has completed additional studies at the New England Conservatory of Music.  He is a two time alumnus of the Tanglewood Music Center, and has also spent summers studying at the Aspen Music Festival, and as a fellow of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute.  Mr. McNutt currently serves on the faculty of Wellesley College and the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, and also maintains his own private percussion studio. 

Craig is proud to be associated with Artifact Percussion and MB Mallets.