Born in Hässleholm, Sweden, Nicola Bulfone completed his clarinet studies at the Conservatorio Jacopo Tomadini, graduating with top honours under the guidance of Maestro Aurelio Pecile.
From 1985 to 1988, he furthered his studies at the Hochschule für Musik Stuttgart with Professor Ulf Rodenhäuser of the Berlin Philharmonic, obtaining the advanced artistic diploma.
Prizewinner in several national and international competitions, he also attended masterclasses with Karl Leister, Antony Pay, and Giuseppe Garbarino, receiving a scholarship from the Accademia Musicale Chigiana.
He has collaborated as clarinet and basset horn player with major orchestras and institutions including the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, the Orchestra del Teatro Verdi di Trieste, the Filarmonica della Scala, the Teatro La Fenice, the Orchestra del Teatro San Carlo, and many others, under conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Riccardo Chailly, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, and Daniel Barenboim.
As a soloist and chamber musician, alongside artists such as Vera Mendelssohn, Konstantin Bogino, Patrick Gallois, Pierre-Henri Xuereb, Ivan Goritzki, Ulf Rodenhäuser, Corrado Rossi, the Ensemble Villa Musica, I Solisti della Scala, the Moyzes Quartet, the Quartetto Tartini, the Quartetto Agorà, and the Trio Altenberg, he has performed at numerous international festivals and concert series, including Paris Saint-Germain, Musica Viva Munich, the Venice Biennale, the Ravello Festival, Mittelfest, and many others across Europe and beyond.
He has appeared as soloist with orchestras such as the Slovak Philharmonic, the Orquestra do Norte, the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bialystok Philharmonic, and many chamber orchestras throughout Europe.
He has made radio and television recordings for broadcasters including SWF, MDR, RAI, ORF, BR, SDR, Koper, and Art Kanal Beograd. Several renowned composers have dedicated solo works to him.
In 1997, he served on the jury of the International Clarinet Competition “Jeunesses Musicales” in Belgrade.
For ten years he was principal clarinet of the Orchestra Filarmonica di Udine, and from 2000 to 2006 held the same position with the Orchestra Sinfonica Regionale del Friuli Venezia Giulia.
He is a founding member of the Associazione Filarmonica del Friuli Venezia Giulia and is active as a Conservatory professor and teacher in international advanced training courses. He has also worked as conductor and wind section coach for the youth orchestra of the ENFAP professional training courses in Gorizia.
As a soloist, he recorded 10 Concertos for Two Clarinets and Orchestra on three CDs for Agorà, and for the same label released a world premiere recording of the Clarinet Concertos by Carlo Paessler, whose scores he revised for publisher Kunzelmann. For Naxos, he recorded the complete 30 Caprices for solo clarinet by Ernesto Cavallini.
He currently holds the Chair of Clarinet at the Conservatorio Jacopo Tomadini.
Nicola Bulfone performs on Herbert Wurlitzer Reform Boehm clarinets.
