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AARON KULA
MUSIC DIRECTOR & CONDUCTOR
AARON KULA BIO
An internationally recognized conductor, educator, composer, accordionist, and producer, Aaron Kula was awarded a Fulbright Specialist grant to conduct and lecture in Israel with appearances at the U.S. Embassy, Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, community music schools in the Negev, and music conservatories in the Western Galilee. In May 2018 the United States Congress awarded Mr. Kula a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for his “outstanding and invaluable service to the community” in the field of music. During his 25-year residency in Boston, he attended New England Conservatory of Music where he later joined the conducting faculty from 1986-2013. Mr. Kula held conducting posts at Chautauqua Music School in New York and has appeared as guest conductor with Boston Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Boston Conservatory, Boston University, Santa Fe Symphony, Erie Ballet (PA), New Hampshire Ballet, and Boca Sinfonia as well as high school honors orchestras in Florida, Massachusetts, and Mississippi. A faculty member of the Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton from 1997 to 2020, he led orchestral and Klezmer ensembles for the music department and in 2003 was appointed director of Music Performance and Education at the FAU Libraries where he produced music festivals, concerts, and community outreach programs. An innovator of concert programming he has conducted concert performances of Broadway musicals with the original orchestration and a full cast including: My Fair Lady in Concert (2019), Funny Girl in Concert (2018), Fiddler on the Roof in Concert (2017), South Pacific in Concert (2016), and On The Town in Concert (2014). Mr. Kula also led the first Florida performances of Duke Ellington's Black, Brown, and Beige in 2011 and Bernstein's Jeremiah Symphony in 2016. Mr. Kula is artistic director of south Florida’s Kultur Festival now in its 13th year and in residence at the Jewish Community Center in Boca Raton, Florida. As an producer, he is director of Kula Concert Productions and Broadway in Concert.
Mr. Kula constantly strives to transform the concert experience with multimedia presentations, multi-genre programming, and reimagining archival music. As a composer, he has transformed over 150 compositions by reimagining vintage sheet music from music archives across the globe through a project called “Shelf to Stage.” Mr. Kula has produced three studio albums of what is described as “world Jazz”; Beyond The Tribes (2009), Klezmerology (2011), and JubanoJazz (2016). In 2011, Beyond the Tribes was selected by a juried committee from the Library of Congress (LOC) for inclusion in the Copyright Acquisitions Division. The LOC determined that the album represented an important cross section of American culture and would “enrich the collections.” In 2018 and 2019 Mr. Kula was invited to perform at the International Yiddish Tes Fest in Bucharest, Romania. In 2011 and 2014, Mr. Kula led KCJO on concert tours to California, Arizona, and Rhode Island. In 2015, the ensemble was invited to perform as a featured ensemble on the main stages at the Ashkenaz Festival in Toronto and the Montreal Jewish Music Festival. A concert accordionist, Mr. Kula began studying both the piano and accordion at the age of 10. He performs regularly with KCJO and has collaborated with Grammy Latin jazz flautist Nestor Torres as well as artists from University of Miami and New World Symphony. From 2009-2011, Mr. Kula was invited to serve as a consultant for the American Klezmer exhibit at the International Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona.
As a conductor, Aaron Kula has led orchestras throughout the US, Europe, and Israel and has collaborated with renowned artists including Yo-Yo Ma/cello, Richard Stoltzman/clarinet, Colin Carr/cello, Denise Graves/singer, Håkan Hagegård/singer, David Leisner/guitar, and members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra among others. As music director of the New England Conservatory Youth Symphony from 1986-2003, Mr. Kula led numerous international concert tours throughout Europe and Israel and organized European tours for Harvard Radcliffe and Stanford Symphony Orchestras.
Mr. Kula holds a Bachelor of Arts in music theory and Judaic studies from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Music in theory and conducting with Distinction in Performance from New England Conservatory of Music. Maestro Kula is a member of ASCAP, League of American Orchestra, College Music Society, and Boston Musician's Association 9-535.
Learn More
For more information please visit these websites:
www.aaronkula.com www.kulaconcertproductions.com www.klezmercompany.com