.soundfullness/who_is
is a collaboration: Nicole Brancato & Douglas Paulson
Our practice is unconventional by design. We both bring different sensibilities to our practice, which finds us pushing and pulling at sound, visual art, listening, finding, and performance in unconventional spaces: empty lots, community gardens, potluck dinners.
Both Nicole and Doug are internationally accomplished, and their .soundfullness work includes the Socrates Sculpture Park’s New Agora Festival, QCA’s Queens Art Fund, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and a headlining spot in Make Music NY. .soundfullness was formed around a shared love of sonic discovery and a desire to make contemporary, challenging work.
find us:
soundfullness.bandcamp.com
nicolebrancato.com
douglaspaulson.com
Nicole Brancato makes music to unlock wonder. Fascinated with contemporary expressions of our shared human experience, the NYC-based pianist merges composition, curation, and performance in collaborations across the arts. Described as “brilliant” and an “immense talent” (New York Magazine and Connect Savannah), Nicole is “redefining the very notion of classical music” (Atención San Miguel). Her credits range from the Guggenheim Museum (NYC), Rai Italia, and the Banff Centre (Canada) to Lincoln Center, Bellas Artes (Mexico), HBO, and underground spaces in Brooklyn factories and warehouses.
An awardee of over 50 international grants and honors, including the New York Foundation of the Arts (2024, 2022), IPaT Research & Engagement Grant (2024), New York State Council on the Arts (2026, 2024), and Pure.Art Circle Italy (2024), Nicole has curated more than 100 productions featuring 200+ compositions and commissions over the last decade. Described as a “piano virtuoso” (The Daily Gazette, Saratoga Springs), Nicole focuses on the kinetic energy exchange in performances — with both her collaborators and her audience. Such collaborations range from Infinitesimal — a genre-shattering chamber opera that interweaves memoir with cutting edge research on near-death experiences — to partnering with artist/author Sam Morris in “wait-list-only” performances at actor Alan Cumming’s NYC Club.
A frequent guest presenter of workshops, master classes, and residencies, Nicole has delivered sessions for the Gesellschaftshaus Magdeburg (Germany); Conservatoire de Pantin (Paris); Lunigiana International Music Festival (Italy); Columbia University; and for universities across the US. In 2025, Nicole partnered with Georgia Institute of Technology, where she is working with GTRI researchers to find new intersections in STEM + Arts education. Nicole was a 2025 Artist in Residence with the New York City Department of Education, and in 2022, she became Artistic Director of Seven Hills Chamber Music in Virginia. Nicole is a Yamaha Artist, a voting member of The Recording Academy (GRAMMYS), and her music is registered with ASCAP.
Douglas Paulson has been developing an expansive, socially engaged and collaborative practice for over 15 years. His work takes many forms, from sprawling social projects in public space, to intimate drawings, books, and sonic experiments.
Doug’s creative practice winds through many roles in the arts: an artist, educator, curator, administrator, thinker, and tinkerer. Collaboration is at the heart of this practice. His work has come to life across NYC and abroad, bringing together people from disparate backgrounds into conversation with each other.
He has participated in, and occasionally organized, projects and exhibitions both close to home in Queens, and across the world.
His pedagogical practice is foundational to his creative output, designing moments for encounters with art making, the natural world, mindfulness in classrooms and beyond.
Our practice is unconventional by design. We both bring different sensibilities to our practice, which finds us pushing and pulling at sound, visual art, listening, finding, and performance in unconventional spaces: empty lots, community gardens, potluck dinners.
Both Nicole and Doug are internationally accomplished, and their .soundfullness work includes the Socrates Sculpture Park’s New Agora Festival, QCA’s Queens Art Fund, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and a headlining spot in Make Music NY. .soundfullness was formed around a shared love of sonic discovery and a desire to make contemporary, challenging work.
find us:
soundfullness.bandcamp.com
nicolebrancato.com
douglaspaulson.com
.soundfullness/about_nicole
Nicole Brancato makes music to unlock wonder. Fascinated with contemporary expressions of our shared human experience, the NYC-based pianist merges composition, curation, and performance in collaborations across the arts. Described as “brilliant” and an “immense talent” (New York Magazine and Connect Savannah), Nicole is “redefining the very notion of classical music” (Atención San Miguel). Her credits range from the Guggenheim Museum (NYC), Rai Italia, and the Banff Centre (Canada) to Lincoln Center, Bellas Artes (Mexico), HBO, and underground spaces in Brooklyn factories and warehouses.
An awardee of over 50 international grants and honors, including the New York Foundation of the Arts (2024, 2022), IPaT Research & Engagement Grant (2024), New York State Council on the Arts (2026, 2024), and Pure.Art Circle Italy (2024), Nicole has curated more than 100 productions featuring 200+ compositions and commissions over the last decade. Described as a “piano virtuoso” (The Daily Gazette, Saratoga Springs), Nicole focuses on the kinetic energy exchange in performances — with both her collaborators and her audience. Such collaborations range from Infinitesimal — a genre-shattering chamber opera that interweaves memoir with cutting edge research on near-death experiences — to partnering with artist/author Sam Morris in “wait-list-only” performances at actor Alan Cumming’s NYC Club.
A frequent guest presenter of workshops, master classes, and residencies, Nicole has delivered sessions for the Gesellschaftshaus Magdeburg (Germany); Conservatoire de Pantin (Paris); Lunigiana International Music Festival (Italy); Columbia University; and for universities across the US. In 2025, Nicole partnered with Georgia Institute of Technology, where she is working with GTRI researchers to find new intersections in STEM + Arts education. Nicole was a 2025 Artist in Residence with the New York City Department of Education, and in 2022, she became Artistic Director of Seven Hills Chamber Music in Virginia. Nicole is a Yamaha Artist, a voting member of The Recording Academy (GRAMMYS), and her music is registered with ASCAP.
.soundfullness/about_douglas
Douglas Paulson has been developing an expansive, socially engaged and collaborative practice for over 15 years. His work takes many forms, from sprawling social projects in public space, to intimate drawings, books, and sonic experiments.
Doug’s creative practice winds through many roles in the arts: an artist, educator, curator, administrator, thinker, and tinkerer. Collaboration is at the heart of this practice. His work has come to life across NYC and abroad, bringing together people from disparate backgrounds into conversation with each other.
He has participated in, and occasionally organized, projects and exhibitions both close to home in Queens, and across the world.
His pedagogical practice is foundational to his creative output, designing moments for encounters with art making, the natural world, mindfulness in classrooms and beyond.