[10][11] "Hultgren, who is no stranger to avant grade music, considers himself an activist for new music"[12] For more than 10 years, Craig Hultgren also organizes his Solo Cello Works Biennial presenting new works from composers around the world.
"Craig Hultgren has become a magnet for composers seeking first hearings of their cello works.
"[17] For him, more than 100 works were composed by contemporary composers, including works for the electric cello and multi-media works by Tiffany Benton, Kari Besharse, Noah Creshevsky, J. Nickitas Demos,[18] Brian Moon, Veselin Nikolov, Philip Schuessler, Robert Scott Thompson, and Robert Voisey He is a member of the New Directions Cello Association, past President of the Birmingham Art Music Alliance[19] and former President of the Birmingham Art Association, where he instituted the Birmingham Improv, an improvisational festival held annually for ten years.
In 2013, Craig Hultgren participated in Vox Novus's Fifteen Minutes of Fame founded by Robert Voisey[20] "Few performers could, or would, take up such a gauntlet, and he came through admirably"[21] The Fifteen Minutes of Fame set of 15 composers was subtitled Occupy Cello -- Upsetting the Musical Status Quo and cellist Craig Hultgren's performance in Alabama was praised for his "herculean effort to shift styles and sensibilities at a moment's notice" Hultgren performed at Carnegie Hall for Dorothy Hindman's Retrospective, "played with impressive poise and sensitivity by cellist Craig Hultgren, ... using bystander video from Gray’s arrest for both spoken words and pitch sources.
Rough Ride is more abstract and more powerful, the cello line shining and abrading, like fiberglass threads, the fragmented text outlining a sense of tragedy.