Nicholas Photinos is a founding member of the Grammy Award-winning, Chicago-based new music ensemble eighth blackbird. Formed in 1996, the ensemble performs throughout the world, giving 50-60 concerts annually, and has been featured on CBS’s Sunday Morning and in the New York Times. During the 2011/12 season eighth blackbird tours Australia twice, making debuts at the Sydney Opera House and the Brisbane Festival, and performs with the symphony orchestras of Melbourne and Tasmania. The ensemble plays in New York (SONiC festival), Washington DC’s Kennedy Center, Kansas City, Ithaca and Princeton, and appears with the Cincinnati Symphony. Nicholas teaches at the University of Richmond and the University of Chicago, and since 2007 has taught at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival. He has also performed as a member of the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra and Canton and Columbus Symphony Orchestras, and performed and recorded with artists including Björk, Wilco, Autumn Defense, violinist Zach Brock, bassist Matt Ulery and singer Grazyna Auguscik. Nicholas is a graduate of Northwestern University, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He has recorded for the Nonesuch, Cedille and Naxos labels, among others.
Nicholas Photinos
