Press
"The border between avant-garde jazz and certain flavors of modernist chamber music is porous, of course, and Dr. 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. None of that would matter much (except to saxophonists) if Dr. Zoulek were a less imaginative composer. Several of his pieces—“Reconsolidate: In Memories,” “These Roots Grown Deep” and the swirling “Symmetry: In Memories,” most vividly—use repetition as an engine. But each has a distinct character, and in every case, Dr. Zoulek’s repeating figures quickly sprout layers that create an illusion of counterpoint. ... [H]is layers are built more inventively, with rhythmic patterns tapped assertively on the instrument’s keys, and bursts of strange timbres—buzzing tones that sound like overheated electrical lines, for example, or brash, sliding multiphonics that suggest an electric guitar with a distortion pedal—becoming second and third voices in expanding dialogues."
-The Wall Street Journal
"Zoulek’s sax imparts biological life into the waves of sound, as if some vast pale beast is making spectral gestures. Nick Zoulek has it going on! “SSBT” reshuffles our expectations of sound, projecting trancelike cultural memories up a psychic periscope rising into imaginal realms. It’s wickedly contagious, bizarrely beautiful and extraterrestrial all at the same time. In short, it’s magnificent. Don’t miss either “Silhouette of a Storm Bent Tree” or Rushing Past Willow.”
-Huffington Post
“….pure mindfulness and talent.”
-PopMatters
“This is why Zoulek’s work is so unexpected: the tones he creates, especially in “Silhouette of a Storm-Bent Tree” challenge what any music fan has ever known of understood about what a saxophone can do.”
-YourEDM
“…melodic lucidity and a wide scope of illustrious instrumental mastery.”
-Tattoo.com
"...a no-holds-barred engine of avant-garde exploration"
-The Portland Press Herald
"...a tour de force."
-Milwaukee Magazine
"...Rushing Past Willow pulls you into [a] swirling portal of disciplined arpeggiations packed with shifts and flourishes, bringing to mind the work of German synth pioneers like Cluster and early Tangerine Dream. However, Zoulek isn't triggering a synthesizer or twisting filter knobs-he's playing this stuff manually on a sax, which is insane for the amount of controlled dynamics he brings to the timbre, volume, and frequency spectrum."
-Tone Madison
"The beginning of “Leafless Against the Sky” is beautiful in its simplicity: the chemical interjects nature. The sound design warns of a plague. The chemical stains, and then grows. The tension builds and I am on the edge of my seat. There is so much frightening beauty in decay. Death by colour – the ending is visual poetry. The film is focused and measured and delivers exactly when it should. There is a superb sense of awareness towards rhythm. Hands down one of the best projects I’ve reviewed for this festival. The film is simple but kicks a punch – well done to the maker!"
-Break Big Film Festival
"...dark notes in the gathering twilight...the music stirred my bones."
-Shepherd Express
"...[performed] with sensitivity and wit."
-Third Coast Digest
"...a delight...[will] take you to other worlds."
-Milwaukee Magazine
"Beautiful harmonies sang in contrast to mysterious knockings and hums, and finally to ungodly, soul shattering blasts."
-Shepherd Express
Biography
"…Zoulek's performance, on saxophones in every range, is stunningly virtuosic, whatever the genre…none of this would matter much (except to saxophonists) if he were a less imaginative composer." (The Wall Street Journal)
A modern saxophonist of “pure mindfulness and talent” (PopMatters), Dr. Nick Zoulek's focus on performance, collaboration, multimedia art, and improvisation, has led to a diverse portfolio of distinctive artistic ventures, performing across France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.
A soloist, Nick’s musicianship is praised as “wickedly contagious” (The Huffington Post) with the capacity to “[take] you to other worlds” (Milwaukee Magazine), and “[b]eautiful harmonies [singing] in contrast to mysterious knockings and hums, and finally to ungodly, soul-shattering blasts.” (Shepherd Express) He has garnered numerous awards as a classical musician, with features on Chicago's Classical WFMT, Boise NPR, Toledo NPR, and 88.9 Radio Milwaukee. As a specialist in contemporary music, Zoulek has collaborated with leading ensembles including Grammy-winners Eighth Blackbird, Third Coast Percussion, and many others. He has been featured in concerti with the Boulogne Ensemble du Vent, the University of Wisconsin Whitewater Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire Wind Ensemble. Connecting genres through virtuosity and experimentation, Nick’s work is “a no-holds-barred engine of avant-garde exploration,” (Portland Press Herald). Committed to the advancement of the classical saxophone, Nick has commissioned and premiered over 100 works by composers including Martin Bresnick, Alissa Cheung, Marti Epstein, Gordon Fitzell, Baldwin Giang, Ted Hearne, Aaron Kernis, Emma O'Halloran, Amanda Schoofs, and Shelley Washington. He has been a featured artist of the Groundswell Festival, the Shockingly Modern Saxophone Festival, Treefort Music Festival, and as the year-long Artist in Residence for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee SENSORIA series. He performs frequently as a visiting guest artist at universities across North America.
Currently, Nick is working on his second multimedia project and album, Enter Branch, which will combine his saxophonic language and compositional vocabulary with collaborations from members of Bon Iver, Eighth Blackbird, Field Report, the Tontine Ensemble, ~Nois saxophone quartet, artists J. Ivy, Nathalie Joachim, and many more. Nick’s music and film can be experienced in Rushing Past Willow (INNOVA Records), which fuses all of facets of his work through self-composed pieces for alto, tenor, and bass saxophone.
As a chamber musician, Zoulek has worked with cutting-edge classical ensembles including Eighth Blackbird, Third Coast Percussion, and Juxtatonal, indie-rock ensembles Field Report, Reliant Tom, Next Paperback Hero, and a vast array of groups dedicated to innovative sound. Nick is one half of Duo d’Entre-Deux, a Canadian/American saxophone duo praised for its avant-garde approach to saxophone, often working to augment saxophone performance through interdisciplinary collaboration and acoustic alteration of the saxophone’s structure. Zoulek is the tenor saxophonist of the Coalescent Quartet and combines indie-rock crooning with contemporary classical aesthetics in the tenor saxophone trio Dial-Up Stepmom.
A composer, Zoulek has worked with Rockstar Games, Found Format Films, the License Lab, and Legs of Steel ski films. Additionally, he has served as the Music Director of Wild Space Dance Company, and has composed for the Madison Ballet, HYPERlocal, and with members of Zenon and Like You Mean It dance companies.
An award-winning media artist, Zoulek’s visual media, audio production, and digital sound design is an extension of his musical language. His films have screened at festivals in England, Canada, Serbia, Italy, India, Africa, and around the United States, and have garnered numerous awards, including Best Experimental Film from the London Modcon International Film Festival and Largo Film Festival. His doctoral dissertation, “Analyzing the Intersections of Saxophone and Digital Media through Media Theory,” strives to expand the analytical language of musical multimedia. For more information on Zoulek’s media work, visit www.nzmedia.net.
Nick maintains an active profile as a researcher and educator with a commitment to advancing the saxophone’s role in contemporary classical music. He has served on faculty at Bowling Green State University, Ashland University, Oakland University, and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, teaching courses in saxophone, chamber music, multidisciplinary arts, multimedia, and jazz. Zoulek holds a DMA in Contemporary Music Performance (saxophone) with a cognate in Digital Media from Bowling Green State University. Additionally, Nick holds a Master of Music Performance from BGSU, a Certificat des Études Musicales from the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régionale de Boulogne-Billancourt, and a Bachelor of Music Performance with Magna Cum Laude honors from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He has studied with Dr. John Sampen, Jean-Michel Goury, Dr. Matthew Sintchak, and improvisation with Jöelle Léandre.
