Gary Knudson

As a traditionally trained artist, Hultgren possesses music degrees in performance from the University of Iowa where he was graduated with distinction and honors and from Indiana University. He plays in the Alabama Symphony and teaches at Birmingham-Southern College, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Alabama School of Fine Arts.

Hultgren also works in the behalf of arts as an organizer. Currently, he is Vice President of Membership of the Birmingham Art Music Alliance, a composers organization. He has served as President of both the Alliance and the Birmingham Art Association, where he instituted Birmingham Improv, an annual international festival of improvisation. Nationally, he is a consultant for the Living Music Foundation and serves on the Steering Committee of the New Directions Cello Association. In 2004, the Birmingham Sidewalk Film Festival 48-Hour Short Film Rush cited him for the best soundtrack creation for the short film The Silent Treatment. Last year, he presented the fourth Hultgren Solo Cello Works Biennial, an international competition that highlights the best new compositions for the instrument. Most recently he has been appointed to the Learning Objective, Learning Activity Editorial Board to develop materials for online education.


Craig Hultgren


Cellist Craig Hultgren is an activist for new music, the newly creative arts, and the avant-garde. Possessing a broad range of instrumental techniques from traditional to radical, he has had over 100 new works written for him. Through his collaborations with living composers, he is changing the way people write for and listen to the instrument. Besides playing written compositions, Hultgren also performs his own spontaneous, free-style improvisations. Within the last year he as performed in Rome, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Orlando and Atlanta.
The Alabama State Council on the Arts has awarded him two individual Artist Fellowships. He is a member of Thámyris, a contemporary chamber music ensemble in Atlanta and Luna Nova, the music ensemble of the National Institute of Technology for Liberal Education.
As a traditionally trained artist, Hultgren possesses music degrees in performance from the University of Iowa where he was graduated with distinction and honors and from Indiana University. He plays in the Alabama Symphony and teaches at Birmingham-Southern College, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Alabama School of Fine Arts. Hultgren also works in the behalf of arts as an organizer. Currently, he is Vice President of Membership of the Birmingham Art Music Alliance, a composers organization. He has served as President of both the Alliance and the Birmingham Art Association, where he instituted Birmingham Improv, an annual international festival of improvisation. Nationally, he is a consultant for the Living Music Foundation and serves on the Steering Committee of the New Directions Cello Association. In 2004, the Birmingham Sidewalk Film Festival 48-Hour Short Film Rush cited him for the best soundtrack creation for the short film The Silent Treatment. Last year, he presented the fourth Hultgren Solo Cello Works Biennial, an international competition that highlights the best new compositions for the instrument. Most recently he has been appointed to the Learning Objective, Learning Activity Editorial Board to develop materials for online education.

MUSIC & RECORDINGS: Learning object: Contemporary Cello Techniques, ‘04 Associated Colleges of the South Compact disc: Semantemes, ‘03 Night Scenes by Ed Robertson Living Artist Recordings Compact disc: SCI Milestones, ‘02 Postscript by Nickitas Demos, Capstone Records Incidental Music: The Miracle Worker, ‘01 Birmingham Children’s Theater Compact disc: A City Called Heaven ‘00 Thámyris, ACA Digital Recording Compact disc: We Are, They Are, ‘00 with LaDonna Smith & Misha Feigin Leo Records Laboratory Compact disc: The Wind at Beni Midar Music of Robert Scott Thompson, ‘99 Aucourant Records Compact disc: Electro-Acoustic Cello Book, ‘99 Living Artist Recordings Compact disc: Vortex, ‘99 Music of Lewis Nielson ACA Digital Recording Compact disc: Both Kinds of Music, ‘99 with Misha Feigin Leo Records Laboratory CD-ROM: Millennium Mind Capsule CD2000, ‘99 Glenn Engstrand Compact disc: A Selection of Contemporary Contemplative Music for Centering Prayer, ‘98 Contemplative Outreach Compact disc: Dreams, ‘98 with Misha Feigin, Dreaming People Records Compact disc: Birmingham Improv 96 Trans Museq Compact disc: Yet in Longer Light’s Delay, ‘96 Living Artist Recordings Compact disc: Music of the Next Moment, ‘95 Innova Recordings, Sound track: Making Brides with the Help of a South Wind, ‘96 Karen Graffeo, performance artist Video: Small Writing, ‘95 Music of Robert Paredes