ANDY-BOB NOLEN

Andy-Bob Nolen (Maine, USA, 1971) holds a Bachelor of Music degree from University of Central Florida (Joan Markstein), where he was a protégé of the late jazz pianist and composer-arranger John C. Whitney; as well as a Master of Music from University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), where he studied with Lee Fiser, cellist of the LaSalle Quartet. He has also taken a Master of Secondary Education in Music from the University of Valencia. A product of music programs in Florida Public Schools with teachers like Mark Thielen and Michael Sedloff, Andy-Bob attended the Opera Theatre of Lucca, Italy in 1996 and 1997 as principal cellist, an opera and chamber music festival, as well as CCM’s Music97, an annual forum for music by young contemporary composers.

He featured in masterclasses with cellists Wolfgang Boettcher, Colin Carr, Yo-Yo Ma, and Janos Starker. As a professional cellist, he has played in such groups as the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana (Palau de les Arts), Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, Florida Philharmonic, and Palm Beach Opera. He has also been very active in public school music education, particularly in inner-city schools in Miami and Atlanta.

He arrived in Valencia in August, 2006, along with his violinist wife Teresa Nikolova-Nolen. Their son, Nikolas, was born in 2010. Since then he has been involved with several projects including performing with Valencia’s many amateur bands and orchestras; performing with and arranging for Mike McKoy & The Heartbeats, a fusion of jazz standards and classical chamber music; consulting for the Valencia Regional Ministry of Education in the formation of ISEA (Instituto Superior de Enseñanzas Artísticas, or the Institute for Higher Education in the Arts) and the incorporation of the Valencia Campus into the Berklee College of Music, the first campus of the storied contemporary music school outside of Boston; and balancing the demands of fatherhood and career.