Principal Timpanist Colin Hartnett joined the North Carolina Symphony in 2016. He has served as guest principal timpanist with the Minnesota Orchestra, Grant Park Orchestra, New York City Ballet, and New Hampshire Music Festival, and was previously the principal timpanist of the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera and the principal timpanist and percussionist of the Blue Water Chamber Orchestra in Cleveland, Ohio. He has performed with the Milwaukee Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Toledo Symphony, New World Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, Reading Symphony, Erie Philharmonic, and Apollo’s Fire.
A native of Rahway, New Jersey, Hartnett holds a master’s degree in music degree from Cleveland State University, where he studied with Tom Freer of the Cleveland Orchestra. He also holds a performer’s certificate from Carnegie Mellon University and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Brown University.
