Brian Bulkowski, Cello
When third-grader Brian Bulkowski came running home from school saying he was going to play cello, his mother was a bit nonplussed (don’t you just love that word?). Although born in Oakland, Brian and his family had moved to Newark, Delaware, when he was young. “There wasn’t a great music program in my elementary school,” Brian says. “But we could choose an instrument. Cello was it for me.” By the end of third grade he was playing easy Mozart quartets. Brian stuck with it until finally, in sixth grade, there was a music program. “And our teacher would also sneak us out of school to free concerts at the University.” Brian played in the Delaware All State Orchestra, and in high school also played trombone (because why not) and sang Madrigals.
Brian got a degree in Computer Science while playing in the University orchestra as a non-music major—not a common occurrence. Then came the move back to the Bay Area’s tech industry. But, wait. First he saw a “cellist wanted” notice for a band called Kala Din. He played amplified cello in bars throughout the Bay Area, along with odd instruments like the folksy electric mountain dulcimer (a fretted, plucked string instrument from the zither family, originating in the Appalachians). He also played with the band Rosin Coven for 20 years, a 10-piece band of voice, two cellos, violin, upright Bass, vibraphone, drums and bass trombone. “It was weird eclectic electric music.” It’s described as: part of the Dark Cabaret movement, with strong jazz, rock, and klezmer influences, and popular with the SF Burning Man crowd. Hey, they not only played the Bay Area, they toured Europe and have three albums on Spotify!
Okay, but meanwhile let’s also be serious. In 2009 Brian co-founded and was CTO of his own company called Aerospike, providing database technologies to companies like PayPal, Adobe, Experian, Sony and Wayfair. From there he was CTO of private analytics database provider Yellowbrick Data, and a stint at Facebook in privacy and virtual reality. For about 10 years, from 2014 to 2024, he was just too busy to play at all.
Now retired, Brian was looking for an orchestra and found Prometheus! “It’s a challenging repertoire and fun to play in an orchestra again.” But ya still gotta keep it weird, so Brian is also on the Board of The Box Shop, a non-profit maker space in San Francisco, and contributes to the Flaming Lotus Girls, a female art collective that makes large-scale fire art for Burning Man and other outdoor events and spaces. A recent project is a large looping soundscape, with as many as 40 speakers and bespoke code. Can’t you just imagine what Prometheus would sound like with 40 speakers and bespoke technology code!?
