Violist Nils Bultmann is a unique and eclectic musician who is committed to developing his own voice with a wide variety of musical styles and art forms. He teaches private violin, viola and piano, and is certified to teach in the Madison Public Schools. As a member of the New World String Quartet he was active in education and the community of Miami Dade County and toured rural Kentucky giving performances to thousands of elementary school students. He recently received funding from the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission to record and prepare materials specifically for presentations in the Madison Public Schools.

Nils received his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studying Viola Performance with Sally Chisholm, as well as studying German Literature. He has attended master classes at the Banff and Domaine Forget festivals with Karen Tuttel, Paul Neubauer, and Roberto Diaz.

More recent interest has developed for him in the realm of improvisation and composition. He has been active in collaborative projects of dance and film. Recent collaborations include performances with world musicians Sur Sudha from Nepal and multi-instrumentalist/instrument builder Ken Butler. In spring of 2003, he produced and recorded a CD compilation of his own compositions, Forgiveness, including a Solo Sonata for Viola that will be appearing in full score with review in the upcoming issue of Viola Journal. Nils has been the recipient of many awards including the Music Omni composers’ residency fellowship in upstate New York and the Djerassi artist residency in northern California for September 2005. In September 2004, he was a guest at the International Symposium for Improvised Music in Munich, Germany to perform two new works by jazz saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell and Evan Parker, that was recorded and soon to be released by ECM records.

Workshop Information

His small group workshops are personal and relaxed, and focus on improvisation, communication, moods, feelings and movement in relation to music, in the form of dance, discussion and games. The smaller sessions are interactive and are a good opportunity for students to get a closer look at, as well as be directly involved in his creative process.

Fee:

Large group performance--$200
Small group performance--$100

Availability:

Nils is available for solo viola performances for large school assemblies as well as smaller group workshops. His performances, averaging 45 minutes, are a combination of performance and lecture/demonstration, presenting his unique approach to music. Well versed in classical music, his performances primarily feature his own accessible compositions, a mix of solo viola and pieces involving electronic and looping pedals, offering a fresh and inspiring example of what is possible on a stringed instrument.