Nicolai Song

9K/AG ELITE FLUTE

Sinfonieorchester Basel, Switzerland

Of Korean-Russian origins, Nikolai started music at 5 years of age in Singapore, before entering the prestigious Conservatoire de Paris at the age of just 13, as one of the youngest students ever, in the class of Philippe Bernold & Florence Delepine Souchard. To continue his development, he attended the Internationale Musik Akademie in Liechtenstein and has had masterclasses with Patrick Gallois, Julien Beaudiment, Stephanie Winker, & Marc Hantai…

Since his entry to the Conservatoire de Paris, Nikolai has appeared as a soloist with l’Orchestre de Cannes, the Barcelona Baroque Orchestra at the Festival Pablo Casals, and with the Euskadi Orchestra after receiving the ICMA Discovery Award.

Passionate about orchestral playing, he has performed with l’Orchestre Français des Jeunes, l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Beethoven Philharmonie of Vienna, and at age 18, he was appointed Associate Principal flute at the Basel Symphony Orchestra.

Nikolai is also an avid chamber musician, he co-founded the Quintette Pentagone in 2020, and has performed in numerous Festivals such as les Folles Journées de Nantes, Festival des Écoles d’Art Américaines à Fontainbleau, Lyon Printemps Musicals, les Journées Ravel…

In addition to his activities as a modern flutist, ever since discovering early music as a young teenager, Nikolai is an autodidact of historical flutes, ranging from baroque to romantic instruments, and has afterward pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Jan de Winne’s class at the National Conservatory of Paris. He has performed with different ensembles in various festivals: with les Ombres at Festival d’Ambronay, and the Concerto Soave at the Royal Chapel of Versailles. Enjoying equally very much researching these topics, he wrote his master’s thesis on the development of the flute’s organology and repertory at the Paris Conservatory from Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique to Debussy’s Prélude de l’Après-midi d’un Faune (1830-1894).