Percussive Arts Society names six to 2026 Hall of Fame class

The Percussive Arts Society put a wide-ranging 2026 Hall of Fame class on the board, and the biggest names tell the story fast: Steve Smith, Giovanni Hidalgo and Michael Burritt are joined by Tom Gauger, Sylvia Smith and Stuart Saunders Smith. PAS named six inductees in all, and the mix makes one thing clear, the organization is not treating “percussion” as a narrow drum set category. It is honoring the full spread of the field, from orchestral innovation and Latin rhythm to contemporary composition and percussion theater.

That broader definition lands with a date attached. PAS said the honorees will be celebrated in the lead-up to PASIC 2026, set for November 11-14 in Indianapolis, and the Hall of Fame presentation remains tied to the convention’s annual Awards Banquet and Hall of Fame video before the evening concerts. PAS has run the Hall of Fame since 1972, with nominations due each January 31. The timing matters because PASIC bills itself as the largest event of its kind devoted exclusively to drums and percussion, and PAS said the 2026 edition is building on PASIC50, which drew more than 7,800 percussionists.

Burritt’s selection fits that scale. PAS described Michael Burritt as one of his generation’s most accomplished percussionists, and the resume attached to him is the kind that explains why Hall of Fame votes still matter to working players. Burritt has been a featured artist at nine PASIC conventions, performed on four continents and in more than 40 states, and appeared as soloist with the Indianapolis Symphony, United States Air Force Band, Dallas Wind Symphony, Omaha Symphony and Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. PAS also pointed to his 2018 recording Home Trilogy with Nexus and his 2022 premiere of Joseph Schwantner’s Fast Forward.

The rest of the class broadens the frame even further. Tom Gauger spent more than 40 years as a regular member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and taught percussion at Boston University for more than 30 years, while NAMM says his bass drum mallet methods and designs became known worldwide. Giovanni Hidalgo has been credited by the National Endowment for the Arts with expanding Afro-Caribbean rhythm while staying rooted in family traditions. Sylvia Smith tours North America with the Sylvia Smith Percussion Duo, working in percussion with spoken text and percussion theater. Stuart Saunders Smith, who died June 3, 2024, composed more than 300 works and became especially influential in vibraphone and percussion-theater literature.

Taken together, the class reads less like a ceremonial roll call than a map of where percussion already is. PAS is signaling that the center of the art form now includes the concert hall, the drum set, the mallet keyboard, the theater piece and the global rhythm tradition, all under the same roof.