Nancy Zeltsman

Nancy Zeltsman

Nancy Zeltsman

International Soloist / Marimolin

Nancy Zeltsman

International Soloist / Marimolin

Country:   United States Category:   CONCERT ARTISTS

Overview

Marimbist Nancy Zeltsman was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 2022. A leading chamber musician and soloist, recording artist, teacher and author, Zeltsman has premiered over 130 solo and chamber marimba works, some of which are cornerstones of the literature. These include pieces by Michael Tilson Thomas, Paul Simon, Gunther Schuller, Louis Andriessen, Carla Bley, Steven Mackey, Paul Lansky and Alejandro Viñao. She has performed throughout the U.S. and Europe and in Mexico, Brazil, China, and Japan as a soloist and chamber musician.

 

Venues include the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, subscription concerts with the San Francisco Symphony, the Purcell Room at London's Southbank Centre, and Harmony Hall in Fukui, Japan. Zeltsman has four times been a member of the jury for the TROMP International Percussion Competition in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

 

Since 1993, she has taught marimba at joint institutions Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Berklee College of Music. Since 2013, she has been regular guest professor of marimba at Conservatorium van Amsterdam; and, since 2021, a Guest Artist two weeks per year at University of Michigan. Over 600 marimba-playing participants attended Zeltsman Marimba Festival events between 2001 and 2018. As Artistic Director, Nancy organized 14 two-week festivals at different venues across the U.S. and in Amsterdam, and performed and taught at ZMF On Tour (short festivals) in China, Japan, Luxembourg and Boston.

 

Nancy has recorded three solo marimba compact discs; three CDs with her marimba/violin duo Marimolin; a disc with Boston Modern Orchestra Project (W.T. McKinley's marimba concerto); and two duo marimba CDs with Jack Van Geem the latest of which, American Gifts (2020, Bridge Records), features Michael Tilson Thomas’ 30-minute work composed for them: Island Music.

 

She authored a marimba method, Four Mallet Marimba Playing: A Musical Approach for All Levels (Hal Leonard Corporation), and was project coordinator and editor of Intermediate Masterworks for Marimba (commissioned through ZMF New Music, supported by about 200 people): two published volumes containing 24 marimba solos (C.F. Peters Corporation), recorded on a double-CD (Bridge Records). Nancy co-founded and continues as an advisor for Threshold Music Project.

 

Zeltsman lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

Nancy's Gear

Adams 5.0 Octave Alpha Z-Frame Marimba