PROFESSIONAL LIFE

Based in Boston, Massachusetts, Nancy Zeltsman’s life is divided between teaching, occasional solo and chamber performances, and educational and artistic pursuits centered on the marimba. She has been on faculty at The Boston Conservatory since 1993 and was appointed Chair of the Percussion Department in 2005. She joined the faculty of Berklee College of Music in 1993 where she is an Associate Professor. These institutions independently created positions for her to teach marimba exclusively (which is uncommon). She typically has about 35 students between both schools.

Nancy was a guest marimba professor at Hochshule für Musik in Detmold, Germany for the spring 2010 semester. She recently presented master classes at the Brussels Royal Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Over the years, Nancy has presented marimba master classes at numerous institutions including Conservatorium van Amsterdam, Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique de Lyon, The Juilliard School, Curtis Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory, and Lawrence University.

She has performed at nine Percussive Arts Society International Conventions, and at numerous statewide PAS events and other percussion festivals across the U.S.  Nancy has been featured at marimba and percussion events abroad in Fukui, Kyoto, and Osaka, Japan; Mexico City and Chiapas, Mexico; Merza and Alcoy, Spain; London and Manchester, England; and in Stockholm, Geneva, Linz, Vienna, Berlin and Zagreb.

Zeltsman was a member of the jury for the 2010 TROMP International Percussion Solo Competition held in Eindhoven, the Netherlands; the 2009 International Percussion Duo Competition Luxembourg; the 2005 International Marimba Competition in Paris; and the 2001 Belgium International Marimba Competition.

PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Nancy has been a major force in expanding the repertoire for solo marimba and marimba within chamber music. All told, she has premiered about 125 pieces. Nearly 80 of those were written for Marimolin, the marimba / violin duo Zeltsman formed with Sharan Leventhal. The team was extremely active between 1985 to 1996, performing across the U.S. and Europe, including concerts at the Tanglewood Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, and Huddersfield Festival (England). They recorded three CDs, raised over $68,000 to commission new works, and sponsored an international composition contest for eight years that attracted nearly 200 entries.

Numerous marimba solos have been composed for—and/or dedicated to—Zeltsman including works by Louis Andriessen, Gunther Schuller, Paul Lansky, Steven Mackey, Robert Aldridge, David Friedman. Paul Simon, Carla Bley, and Lyle Mays. Geoffrey Keezer and Michael Tilson Thomas have composed chamber pieces for her. Mr. Tilson Thomas’ Island Music, a 30-minute landmark work featuring two marimbists with four supporting percussionists was performed by Zeltsman and Jack Van Geem in 2003 and 2004 at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, and on several subscription concerts of the San Francisco Symphony in January 2005. In the same month, Zeltsman premiered and recorded William Thomas McKinley’s marimba concerto Childhood Memories with Boston Modern Orchestra Project conducted by Gil Rose.

Nancy’s annual summer festival, Zeltsman Marimba Festival (ZMF), celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2011. As Artistic Director, Nancy generally plans the two-week event throughout the year. (The festival will be on hiatus in 2012.) With a welcoming, encouraging atmosphere, ZMF encompasses a training seminar for 40 to 50 marimbists taught by an international faculty, and a series of public concerts featuring the faculty and guests. Participants attend concerts, master classes, talks, private lessons, practice, rehearse with ensembles, and perform for each other and the public.

The ZMF experience has frequently been described as “life changing.” There are numerous instances of participants taking a new direction in their education or career pursuits as a result of contacts made there—and even one marriage! Each festival follows a similar format, but faculty/performers change each year to continually bring in more viewpoints and to interest repeat participants, of which there are many. The festival moves to different locations each year. So far, it has been based in Appleton, WI; Boston, MA; Los Angeles, CA; Princeton, NJ; and, in 2010, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

ZMF occasionally takes on special projects. 2009 marked the completion of a three-year initiative called ZMF New Music. It produced a collection of 24 diverse, relatively short marimba solos aimed at bridging a gap in the marimba repertoire that existed between idiomatic studies and virtuosic solo works. This was achieved through an unprecedented initiative to foster the creation, performance, publication, and recording in one concerted effort—supported by more than 200 contributors.

Sixteen of the compositions were commissioned from esteemed composers; the other eight were winners of ZMF’s own international composition contest. Over a period of 18 months, 150 pieces were submitted from 20 countries. Every aspect of the project was devised and carried out by Nancy and her assistant, Shawn Michalek.

The 24 pieces have been published in two volumes entitled Intermediate Masterworks for Marimba (vol. 1 and 2, containing 12 pieces each), by C.F. Peters Corporation. Bridge Records released a double-CD of the same name presenting the entire collection recorded by eight marimbists including Nancy, for which she served as Executive Producer. (See these at Study with Nancy.)

Nancy is also featured on three solo marimba CDs: Woodcuts (1993, GM Recordings), See Ya Thursday (1998) and Sweet Song (2005); and a duo marimba CD with Jack Van Geem, Pedro and Olga Learn to Dance (2004). Her first recording: Marimolin (1988) received much acclaim including a “Perfect 10/10” rating (for performance/sound quality) in CD Review magazine (March 1990). Other CDs recorded with Marimolin were Phantasmata (1995, GM Recordings) and Combo Platter (1994, Catalyst/BMG). A recent CD features Nancy performing William Thomas McKlinley's marimba concerto, Childhood Memories. (See Discography.)

Zeltsman’s comprehensive marimba method, Four Mallet Marimba Playing: A Musical Approach for All Levels (now in its third edition) is published by Hal Leonard Corporation. (See book at Study with Nancy.) Nancy proudly endorses Marimba One marimbas, and the “Nancy Zeltsman Series” of Encore Mallets. (See Links.)

BACKGROUND / EDUCATION

Nancy was born in 1958 in Morristown, New Jersey and grew up in nearby Parsippany. Her father and mother were portrait / nature photographers (respectively) who owned and ran a portrait studio. She studied piano from age five and took up percussion at age thirteen. Important early teachers were Robert Ayers (percussion), Donald Marrs (her high school band director), and Ian Finkel (xylophone, marimba and vibraphone).

In 1976, Zeltsman began to study with Vic Firth at New England Conservatory of Music. Following her sophomore year (1978), she spent the summer as a percussion fellow at Tanglewood where she performed contemporary chamber music coached by Gunther Schuller and Theodore Antoniou, and performed in the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Bernstein and Neville Marinner. On the 4th of July, Nancy was timpanist for Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture with the combined orchestras of the Boston Symphony and TMC under Arthur Fiedler—the last time he conducted the work before he passed away.

Following Tanglewood, Nancy took a year off from school and lived in New York City; then returned to NEC complete her Bachelor of Music degree in percussion performance (1982). There, she also studied with composition with William Thomas McKinley. After graduation, she studied improvisation with Dave Samuels. For a few years, she led a jazz octet that worked in Boston clubs. The group including violinist Joel Smirnoff, saxophonists Allan Chase or Matt Darriau, bassist Joe Fitzgerald, and drummer George Schuller.

In 1982, Nancy decided to play marimba exclusively and has done so ever since. Shortly thereafter, through Robert Aldridge, she became acquainted with the Composers in Red Sneakers, a consortium of young, talented composers who wrote many pieces for her—and launched Nancy’s many years of collaborations with composers. It was also through Robert Aldridge that Zeltsman met violinist Sharan Leventhal with whom (in a matter of hours) she formed Marimolin.