About

Neil McNulty is a musician, percussionist, drummer, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, and instructor born and raised in New Jersey. He has studied to be a performer across a wide variety of styles, genres, and instruments. He graduated Magna cum Laude with his B.M. in percussion from Boston Conservatory at Berklee in 2018, and received his M.M. in percussion from the University of Michigan in 2020.

While in Boston, Neil played regularly with the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra at Symphony Hall and Sanders Theatre, and accompanied the group on tour each summer 2015-2018 to cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Lucerne, Lima, Budapest, and many others in venues such as The Berlin Philharmonie, Musikverein in Vienna, Concertgebow in Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall in New York City, Centro Cultural Kirchner in Buenos Aires, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Béla Bartók Concert Hall in Budapest, Teatro de Sol in Montevideo, and Dvorak Hall in Prague. He has also performed with various groups like the Boston Philharmonic and the Jackson Symphony. In 2017, Neil was principal percussionist in the Eureka! ensemble, an orchestra that nurtures social change through music.

Neil’s background in chamber music has brought him to various music festivals like Chosen Vale International Percussion Seminar and Zeltsman Marimba Festival. He has participated in ensembles ranging from Guatemalan marimba band Canto de Guatemala where he was a transcriber, arranger, and marimbist to large-scale outdoor performances of John Luther Adam’s "Inuksuit" at Governor’s Island and Caramoor Center for the Arts.

With a future working in musical theater in mind, Neil has played in the pit for main stage musicals at school and various other companies including Man of La Mancha, Urinetown, Sweeney Todd, 9 to 5, Pirates of Penzance, Bernstein’s Mass, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, to name a few. He has performed with Broadway actors and musicians at The Green Room 42 in New York multiple times.

In 2019, Neil was a percussion teaching assistant at Interlochen Center for the Arts's summer program where he instructed percussion ensemble, taught basic percussion skills to young students (ages 6-12), and performed in faculty ensembles throughout the summer.

Most recently, Neil spent six months at sea playing drums for RWS Entertainment as part of their inaugural production cast aboard the MSC Seashore.

Neil has spent a lot of time on the electronic side of music, learning techniques of writing, recording, and producing music using various pieces of hardware and software. Since finishing school and entering the pandemic, this aspect of his music education has become a large part of what he does, and hopes to find a way to bring all of his interests together in a meaningful way. Much of this discovery comes from Neil's passion for drums, guitar, bass, electronics, and popular music.