Stephen Nachmanovitch ranks among the limited number of string players in recent decades who emphasize creative improvisation. Recognition has also come to him as an author, computer artist, educator, and lecturer.
Born in 1950, he listened to numerous classical violinists during his youth, yet the 1970s found him pioneering free music expressionism on acoustic and electric violins as well as viola while introducing a range of extended techniques. Academic study occurred at Harvard and the University of California-Berkeley, where he obtained a Ph.D. in the History of Consciousness centered on an exploratory subject drawn from William Blake’s writings. His mentor was the renowned English anthropologist and philosopher Gregory Bateson, whose wife was the equally acclaimed Margaret Mead.
In his capacity as an academician, Nachmanovitch has taught and lectured throughout the United States and abroad on creativity and the spiritual aspects of art. Master classes or workshops have taken place at the Yehudi Menuhin School, Juilliard, and numerous additional conservatories and universities. Ongoing collaborations continue with artists working in music, dance, theater, and film, and he has developed programs that combine mixed media with literature and computer technology.
Recorded works include the solo releases Ludi Fecundus and Saraswati Steps Up to Bat, the Merging at Merging One session with flutist Ellen Schimmel Burr, and Electric and Acoustic Improvisations, Vol. 1 alongside violinist Timothy Summers. DVDs comprise Taming the Mind Ox & Theater Games and Job Returns -- A Meditation on William Blake’s Illustrations of the Book of Job. Articles have appeared in many fields, and he authored the prominent book Free Play: Improvisation in Life & Art (Penguin-Putnam, 1990).
In more recent years he has produced computer software such as the World Music Menu and the Visual Music Tone Painter, while early 2008 saw him perform Lysistrata at Live Arts in Virginia. Nachmanovitch resides in Charlottesville, VA.
