Multi-percussionist, composer, and Grammy award-winning artist Cory Hills thrives on breaking down musical barriers through creative, interdisciplinary projects. He has received degrees from Northwestern University, Queensland Conservatorium, and the University of Kansas, and was awarded a research fellowship to Institute Fabrica. Currently, Hills is an active performer, composer, and recording artist in Los Angeles, as well as a member of the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet.
An advocate of new music, Hills has individually commissioned and premiered over 150 new works for percussion. He has given solo and chamber recitals across Europe, Australia, New Zealand, The United States, Mexico, and China. An advocate for percussion as an artistic discipline, Hills has been the artist-in-residence at Rocky Mountain National Park, a fellow at the OMI international artist’s colony, artist-in-residence with Eighth Blackbird in Chicago, and the inaugural resident for an arts in social practice fellowship through the National Endowment of the Arts and the state of Colorado.
In 2008, Hills launched Percussive Storytelling, a program that brings classical music and storytelling to kids in low-income communities. The program recently marked its 900th performance, and has reached more than 215,000 children in ten countries. Hills has released two award-winning albums (The Lost Bicycle, Drum Factory), and three children’s books (The Lost Bicycle, Beatrice and the POGs, Beatrice and the Search for the Orb). Through Percussive Storytelling, Hills was named as the inaugural Gretsch Fellow in Children’s Music at the Fred Rogers Center for 2021-2022, as well as a recipient of a 2022 Individual Artist Fellowship through the California Arts Commission.
