Corey Ritter is the principal percussionist with the Arizona Opera Orchestra since 2015 and the principal percussionist with the Fresno Philharmonic and Fresno Grand Opera since 2001. He is also the assistant principal percussionist with the Riverside County Philharmonic since 1998. Besides AZ Opera, he won all of his other positions while a student at CSU Fullerton. Since 1996, he also performs with several other orchestras including the San Diego Symphony, Pacific Symphony, American Ballet Theatre Company Orchestra & Bolshoi Ballet Orchestra both at the Los Angeles Music Center - Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Honolulu Symphony, Monterey Symphony, Pasadena Pops Orchestra, Redlands Symphony, San Bernardino Symphony and the Desert Symphony.

He has performed, recorded and toured with many world-renowned artists, including, Placido Domingo, Renee Fleming, Deborah Voigt, Andrea Bocelli, Juan Diego Flórez, Evelyn Glennie, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Lang Lang, Andre Previn, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Linda Ronstadt, Cher, Stewart Copeland, Oliva Newton John, Carol Channing, Audra McDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, Katherine Jenkins and Jackie Evancho.

He has also recorded various albums and films for Disney and Paramount among others. He was the lead percussionist in the Disney Motion Picture “The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.” He was the principal percussionist for a 2014 production of Les Miserables, as well as several other musicals.

A native of Orange County, CA, he received his music degrees in percussion performance from Fullerton College, graduating with high honors and CSU Fullerton, where in 2001 he graduated as Valedictorian, Magna Cum Laude and was awarded membership in the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society. His primary teachers were Robert Slack and Todd Miller, principal percussion and principal timpani respectively, with the Pacific Symphony and Raynor Carroll, James Babor and Perry Dreiman, principal percussion and section percussion respectively, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He studied drum set with renowned drum set player Steve Houghton. He also attended the Music Academy of the West Summer Music Festival with Mitchell Peters, the former Principal Timpanist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Besides his career as an orchestral percussionist, he also enjoys playing the steel drums in which he can explore the Caribbean musical styles indigenous to Trinidad and Tobago, the birthplace of the steel pan. He plays steel drums both as a solo artist as well as with his steel drum band, the Sounds of the Caribbean, for resorts, country clubs, weddings, private parties and corporate events throughout Southern California. He plays and has been the music contractor for Tommy Bahama in Palm Desert since 2003 and Palm Springs since it opened in 2018, also performing at the Tommy Bahama locations in Newport Beach, Pasadena, San Diego and La Jolla. Other clients include Bill Gates, Disney, US Olympic Swim Team, J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, Pacific Symphony, Ritz Carlton, Marriott, Westin, Renaissance, Hyatt, PGA West and Four Seasons Fashion Island in Newport Beach. He has also had the honor of performing with two legendary steel drum musicians from Trinidad and Tobago; Len “Boogsie” Sharpe and Robert Greenidge, the former steel drum musician for the late Jimmy Buffet.