James Fulkerson

Who is James Fulkerson?

James Orville Fulkerson is an American composer, now living in the Netherlands, of mostly stage, orchestral, chamber, vocal, piano, electroacoustic, and multimedia works. He is also active as a trombonist.

James Fulkerson received his musical training at Illinois Wesleyan University, where he earned his BMus in 1967, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he earned his MMus in 1968. His principal compositional teachers were Herbert Brün, Kenneth Gaburo, Lejaren Hiller, Ben Johnston, and Salvatore Martirano and his principal trombone teachers were Carmine Caruso and John Silber. He also studied with Ernst Giehl, Robert Gray, Edward Kleinhammer, Donald Miller, and Donald Reinhardt.

As a trombonist, he is esteemed for his performances of experimental music. More than 200 works have been composed for him, including two by John Cage. He has recorded for the Attacca Babel, Deutsche Grammophon, Etcetera, Lovely Music, Mode, IRIDA Records and Nonesuch labels.