Jakob Ullmann (born 12 July 1958 in Freiberg, East Germany) is a German composer and university professor. He is the son of theologian and politician Wolfgang Ullmann.
After refusing to undergo military service in East Germany, Ullmann worked as a groundskeeper, boilerman, and house painter from 1978 until 1982 in Dresden. From 1979 until 1982 he studied church music in Saxony. Denied official enrollment at Berlin's Academy of Fine Arts, he studied composition privately with Friedrich Goldmann.
Since the early 1980s, he has worked as a freelance composer and author of self-published writings, and has taught classes at various universities on New Music, medieval music, the history of Byzantine music, and music philosophy. His first major concert presentation took place in East Berlin in 1986, receiving positive reviews and leading to his first official publishing deal for the score of his string quartet. In 1988, a work by Ullmann saw its first performance in West Germany when the Gruppe Neue Musik Hanns Eisler performed at the Donaueschingen Festival.
Ullmann's compositions are associated with indeterminacy. Notable works include Solo I (1992/93–2010) for flute and Solo IV (2013/14) for low string instrument, which are designed to be performed simultaneously. His music has been described as "a fragile music of swirling, shifting sounds which drift in and out of focus." He was featured in the documenta 14 exhibition in Kassel, Germany.
He has served as a professor at the Hochschule für Musik Basel and continues to be active as a composer and author.
