Craig Morris is a versatile performer well versed in all classical genres of music from Baroque to Contemporary. Regarded as a leading proponent for new music and original programming, Morris received a 2019 Grammy Nomination for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for his album Three Pieces in the Shape of a Square, featuring the music of Philip Glass. Craig Morris has also recently premiered major pieces by two leading American composers: a major new concerto by Joel Puckett titled The Fifteenth Night of the Moon and also The Lightning Fields, a major new work for trumpet and piano by Michael Daugherty. Morris is also featured in two solo recordings on the Naxos label: Concerto for Trumpet and Winds by Thom Sleeper on the album Reflections (another piece that was written for Morris), and his acclaimed debut solo album Permit Me Voyage, featuring his own original transcriptions of Debussy, Schumann, Brahms, and Barber.

Mr. Morris has an active recital touring schedule and has been featured as a soloist with ensembles and festivals around the world, including appearances with the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Miami Bach Society, and numerous university wind ensembles including the University of Texas Wind Ensemble, the University of North Texas Wind Ensemble, and the Frost School of Music Wind Ensemble. Morris performed his Carnegie Hall debut as a soloist with the University of Miami Wind Ensemble, performing Andre Jolivet’s demanding Concerto No. 2. In 2018 Morris was a featured concerto soloist at the National Trumpet Competition, performing Thom Sleeper’s Concerto for Trumpet and Winds with the University of North Texas Wind Ensemble. He has also appeared at leading international festivals including Instrumenta Oaxaca, in Oaxaca, Mexico, the Schagerl Brass Festival, in Melk, Austria, the Blekinge International Brass Institute, in Karlskrona, Sweden, and the Beijing Modern Music Festival in Beijing, China. Prior to his work as a soloist, Morris served as Associate Principal Trumpet of the San Francisco Symphony and Principal Trumpet of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, following the legendary Adolph “Bud” Herseth in that chair. Still active as an orchestral performer, Mr. Morris has served as guest principal trumpet with the St. Louis Symphony, the Swedish Radio Orchestra, the Jacksonville Symphony, and the San Diego Symphony. Since 2007, Mr. Morris has been the principal trumpet of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, the world’s leading orchestral new music festival, where he has worked closely with some of the leading composers of our time.

Currently based in Miami, Florida, Craig Morris is the Trumpet Professor at the Frost School of Music. He has been a Yamaha Artist since 2015.