About

Originally from Minnesota, Nicole Parks is a Boston based violinist and pedagogue. With a particular passion for contemporary music, she collaborates with a diverse group of performers and living composers to bring new music to a wide range of audiences. Nicole has performed with many ensembles throughout New England and the Midwest. She is a violinist and co-founder of the Semiosis Quartet (semiosisquartet.com), a group of four friends who strive to perform exclusively 20th/21st century music with the passion and dedication that it deserves. She was the founder and original artistic director/conductor of The Lirica Chamber Ensemble; an ensemble created to play rarely heard and new works for chamber orchestra. Nicole is currently concertmaster of the Arlington Philharmonic and East Coast Scoring and has held a concertmaster and soloist position with The Linden Hills Chamber Orchestra and the recent production of Madame White Snake presented by Arts Emerson. She plays regularly with Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and previous performed with the Cape Ann Symphony, The Metropolitan Symphony and The Northern Symphony Orchestra among others.

Nicole is a member of the American String Teacher's Association and serves on the MA-ASTA board as Secretary. She has held a violin faculty position at The Community Music Center of Boston since 2010, where she teaches violin, viola, and cello, directs the Junior String Ensemble, is assistant conductor of the Chamber Orchestra, and has spearheaded the Beginning Strings program, which offers small group classes to 4-6 year olds. Summer performance and education workshops where she has taught include BIMA at Brandeis University, Minnesota All-State Festival, and the chamber music festival, Stringwood. Nicole holds a BM in violin performance from St. Olaf College, and MM and PSC degrees from The Boston Conservatory where she studied violin performance and pedagogy with Sharan Leventhal.

nicoleparksviolin.com

Music

I am willing and able to play anything with a particular passion for string quartets. While 20th and 21st century music are my calling for performance, I adore performing music of Haydn and Mozart - I find it particularly thrilling to work as a chamber ensemble to bring this music to life. I also have a soft spot in my heart for Impressionist composers - Debussy, Ravel, etc! Bach is a fantastic staple for any musician!

Videos

Past groupmuses (2)