Nicholas Huneycutt

Nicholas Huneycutt is a freelance percussionist and educator located in the greater Pittsburgh area. Currently, Nicholas keeps busy as a founding member of NAT 28, a new music ensemble that features both Pittsburgh area composers and musicians. You can see him playing drum set all across Pittsburgh with his brass funk group, The Employees of Funk. Nicholas also maintains an extensive teaching schedule at Carnegie Mellon University as an adjunct professor, the CMU Prep School, Johnstonbaugh’s Music Center, and Sunburst School of Music.

​His freelancing career has brought him to perform with fantastic regional and national groups including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, Resonance Works, and the Butler County Symphony Orchestra. This experience has allowed him to work with many legendary conductors such as Andrés Cárdenes, Daniel Curtis, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Carl Topilow, Francesco Lecce-Chong, Paul Polivnik, and Lucas Richman. Priding himself to be the most versatile musician possible, Nicholas has also performed alongside many jazz/pop greats such as Bob Mintzer, Bill Watrous, as well as Lena Burke and Luis Marin from Puerto Rico.

A champion of new music and expanding the role of percussion in chamber music settings, Nicholas has premiered works by Mark Applebaum (“30: The Second and Third Decade”) and Mathew Rosenblum (“Lament/Witches’ Sabbath”). Nicholas has also worked side by side with Pittsburgh area composers Mark Fromm, David Stock, Jean-Patrick Besingrand, and Nancy Galbraith to bring their music to life. His chamber music experience has brought him to travel internationally to Panama City, Panama where he participated in both live and televised performances in addition to hosting masterclasses with the Sam Houston State University Percussion Group.

​Nicholas holds both a Master’s Degree and an Advanced Musical Studies Certificate in Music Performance from Carnegie Mellon University, where his principal teachers were Jeremy Branson (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra), Paul Evans (River City Brass), and Christopher Allen (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra). He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance from Sam Houston State University (Huntsville, TX), where he studied with Dr. John Lane and Chris Riggs (Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra). Nicholas is an alumnus of the Brevard Music Festival, where he studied with Chip Ross (Rochester Philharmonic) and Gwendolyn Dease (Michigan State University). He also spent a summer in Maine performing at the Pierre Monteux Music Festival alongside Carlos Avila (Puerto Rico Symphony).

​Nicholas is an artist with Artifact Percussion, and proudly endorses their products and services.