2026 JiB Senior Composer Introduction Series: David Fulmer

We continue our series with David Fulmer.

David Fulmer

EofC Describe the moment when you discovered your calling to music. 

Music has always been central, and I began violin and solfege lessons just after my third birthday. I looked forward to weekly lessons because my teachers were all very animated and made music look and sound so interesting. Around 6th or 7th grade, I had simply assumed that I’d always be making music and that my studies would lead to a career as a performer. From the support of many (parents, friends, teachers, mentors), it was only natural to continue my studies in college and beyond. I can think of no work more rewarding than a life in music. I’m fortunate to be able to composer, conduct, and perform as a violinist and violist.

EofC This is the JiB year of the composer/conductor. How do composing and conducting relate to each other in your practice?

The relationship between composing and conducting is both simple and complex. On a very basic level, I think all composers are inherently conductors in private, especially at their work desk. When writing a work, whether for solo flute or grand orchestra, we composers tend to sing, move, gesture, dance, and architect a pathway through the navigable musical surface. Inevitably, composing becomes a necessity. More complex than that, we can look through our wonderful musical canon and come to see that MOST composers of the past were also conductors. Composers naturally have an “ear” for all the instruments in the orchestra (or band, or chorus) that motive a certain instinct to conduct. For me, the connection between the two disciplines is quite physical and appears in plain sight; I often compose gestures, phrases, and musical cell structures that sway a certain way in relation to the natural anatomy of the instrumental technique. I enjoy thinking of the apparatus that is needed to conduct a Josquin Mass, a Mozart symphony, a Verdi opera, or a dense Schoenberg string quartet. If I reverse-engineer my finished scores, I believe strongly that I connect with the physical gestures of the conducting that inform my musical construction (instrumentation, phrase, tempo, articulation).

EofC What place does the audience have in your compositional process and what place do they have while conducting?

The audience is essential to my creative process; whether I’m composing a single note, or conducting an entire program of classical music, I’m interested in inviting the audience into the sound! I’m interested in drawing the audience onto the edges of their seats to get closer to the sound production of the performance. We see this often in chamber music settings – when the dynamics become barely audible, and on the cusp of cognition, audience members will quite literally move closer, off the edges of their seats, in order to get their ear closer to the surface of the music. I love this philosophy of sensitive music making where an effort to draw our audiences into the musical fabric builds in important relationship to the composer AND the performer! I want each performance to be different, no matter the aesthetic principals or dimensions of the sonic design.

EofC How do you approach giving masterclasses?

Masterclasses are a joy to share with musicians, composers, and audience members. I like to bring alternative perspectives to the musical surface while providing theoretical and historical data to support the lenses through which we understand a work of music. I enjoy musicians that challenge traditional interpretation and are prepared to explore a different stylistic outlook.

EofC How do you approach giving public lectures?

Public lectures are a time to share vital universal properties and very intensely unique details of musical research. My lectures often include performance, variation of perspective, and an invitation to the audience to join the examination of a musical surface to discover and perhaps uncover some novel and extraordinary features of the structure that would reveal greater appreciation and fascination. I often re-perform passages that are informed by scrutinizing a multitude of musical domains (rhythmic, temporal, dynamic, harmonic).

We at Edge of Center thank David Fulmer for the interview. If you are interested in hearing his work, please see the videos below!