Nick Zoulek
Nick Zoulek is at the forefront of performer/composers who are expanding the possibilities of the saxophone. Wrote The Wall Street Journal, “Zoulek's performance, on saxophones in every range, is stunningly virtuosic, whatever the genre….Circular breathing yields rapidly undulating, swirling figures that seem unstoppable. Overblowing produces...fascinating chordal figures, as well as evocations of electronic timbres and feedback.” A musician of “pure mindfulness and talent” (PopMatters), Zoulek builds entire worlds out of breath, brass, and reeds. His intuitive playing and commanding technique have earned him admirers from across the musical spectrum. His upcoming album Enter Branch highlights collaboration, featuring S. Carey from Bon Iver, Grammy-winning spoken-word artist J. Ivy, the ~Nois saxophone quartet, and others. Zoulek’s artistic practice encompasses performance as a soloist and chamber musician, composition, visual media, and audio production. As a classical saxophonist, he has commissioned and premiered more than 100 works for saxophone, including pieces by Martin Bresnick, Shelley Washington, Ted Hearne, Emma O’Halloran, and Aaron Kernis. Although he is a sought-after interpreter of contemporary music, Zoulek’s own recordings offer the purest view of his artistry. After earning an undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, he went to Paris, where he studied avant-garde repertoire Jean-Michel Goury and improvisation with legendary bassist Jöelle Léandre. He subsequently received his DMA in Contemporary Music from Bowling Green State University. Zoulek currently lives in Chicago, where he performs, composes, and hones his visual practice through his media production company, NZMEDIA.
