Steve Mullins is a master of the guitar. He currently performs solo and with the groups Laughing Hands, Rim of the Well, Parting Glass, The New Land Balkan Band, the Candela Pura Flamenco Troupe, and The New Mandolin Quartet.
Steve has also pioneered the use of mandolin in Spanish flamenco:
“Steve’s masterful execution can just as effortlessly take the listener to a Moorish village in Morocco or a spirited dance in Madrid. I don’t know of any artist that has captured the roots and influences of flamenco as well as Steve Mullins.” (Robert Orozco, Riff Magazine)
“Highly inventive and involving...romantic and surrealistic...entirely unique.” (Gretchen Beal, CU Music Professor, in a review of Agua y Sombra)
Steve Mullins earned a bachelor’s degree in American Folk Music, a master’s in musicology, and a doctorate in ethnomusicology from the University of Colorado. He has taught Latin America music, World Music, World Music Theories, and American Indian Music at CU, and currently teaches World Guitar at Front Range Community College
Steve was featured in a cover story in World Rhythm Magazine. He has performed with a number of well-known flamenco artists including Chuscales, Marisol Moreno, Jeanette Trujillo, Lia Ochoa, Daniel Pelegrino, Mina Fajardo, Maria Vasquez, Meagan Chandler, Jesus Munoz, Kevin Romero, Juan del Valle, and Pablo Rodarte. He has been a columnist for Mandolin Magazine since its inception in 1999 (with over 45 published articles).
His compositions have been heard in settings as diverse as television commercials, documentaries, national public radio, silent movies, multi-media flamenco shows, and dancing horse performances at the National Western stock show. He has performed with his brother Brian throughout the Western United States for the “National School Assemblies” agency, and has also concertized in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Mexico, and Spain.
He has performed with the Colorado Music Festival orchestra, the Boulder Philharmonic, the Longmont Symphony, Denver Brass, and the Boulder Mahler Festival Orchestra. He performs with Mike David’s “Spirit of Adventure” ensemble , Ojaleo , Fiesta Colorado , Flamenco Denver ,the Barbelfish Balkan Band , Laughing Hands, The Mullins Brothers, Dance España, Rim of the Well (with Doug Walter and Rebecca Oertli ), and Parting Glass (with Kevin Dooley and Beth Gadbaw)
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He has recorded 2 solo CDs along with CDs with The New Mandolin Quartet, Ojaleo, and Laughing Hands. He produced the Worldbeat Music and Dance Festival in Longmont (1999-2001) and has received a grant to compose and record music for “The Spanish Muse” multi-media flamenco show (including release of the CD Agua Y Sombra), and a commission to compose music commemorating the opening of Sandstone Park in Longmont.
He recently composed a flamenco suite for orchestra (performed by the Longmont symphony in Nov. 2011). A CD of duets for banjola and mandolin (Shine and Rise) was released in 2011, and a new CD of compositions for guitar, marimba, and violin with Rim of the Well is forthcoming in 2012. He teaches mandolin and flamenco guitar at the Olde Town Pickin Parlor in Arvada Colorado. He is also the author of the 1st ever banjola instruction book.
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