Richard Motylinski received his musical training at Oberlin Conservatory, where he studied with Richard Weiner, Principal Percussionist with The Cleveland Orchestra. He also studied privately with Peter Kogan, Jack Moore, and Charles Owen.
A native of Cleveland, Motylinski began his musical studies at age ten and joined the North Carolina Symphony in 1974 after playing in the percussion sections of the Zagreb Philharmonic and the Cleveland Symphony. He founded the Raleigh Consort, a group which has performed Renaissance music since 1979.