Arts & Culture

UWF Dr. Grier Williams School of Music presents Craig Hultgren, cello

The University of West Florida Dr. Grier Williams School of Music will present Craig Hultgren, cello on Sunday, January 29 at 2:30 p.m. The performance will be held in the Rolfs Music Hall at the Center for Fine and Performing Arts, Building 82, on the Pensacola campus.

Cellist Craig Hultgren has been active in new music for decades. He now resides outside of Decorah, Iowa as the farmer-cellist. The New York Classical Review commented that he “played with impressive poise and sensitivity” for Dorothy Hindman’s 2016 chamber music retrospective at Carnegie Hall. 

A recipient of two Artist Fellowships from the Alabama State Council on the Arts, Hultgren was a member for many years of Thámyris, a contemporary chamber music ensemble in Atlanta. He is a founding member of Luna Nova, a new music ensemble with a large repertoire of performances available on iTunes. Hultgren is featured in four solo CD recordings including UK composer Craig Vear’s hyper-media concerto Black Cats and Blues on Métier Recordings. 

Recently, Hultgren entered the realm of digital online releases with four works, Songs for Cello and Piano, by Ben Hippen, available on Spotify. For ten years, he produced the Hultgren Solo Cello Works Biennial, an international competition that highlighted the best new compositions for the instrument. He is a founding member and former President of the Birmingham Art Music Alliance and was on the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Youth Orchestras of Birmingham and their Scrollworks program. 

Currently, Hultgren is President of the Oneota Valley Community Orchestra Board of Directors in Decorah and recently served three years as Chair for the Iowa Composers Forum.

This event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. For tickets or more information, visit uwf.edu/cfpa or call the CFPA box office at 850.857.6285.