viola
Born in 1980 near Munich, Germany, Nicholas Bootiman began learning piano at the age of four and violin at six. His family returned to England when he was seven, where he continued music lessons locally. At the age of 16 Mr. Bootiman won a scholarship to the Purcell School of Music, where he was lured to the viola, and continued to the Royal College of Music in London, where he earned his Bachelor degree and a Postgraduate Diploma in Performance with Distinction. During this time he participated in an exchange to the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Czech Republic.
While still a student at the Royal College of Music, Mr. Bootiman started his orchestral career, freelancing with many British orchestras including the London Philharmonic, London Symphony, B.B.C. Symphony, B.B.C. Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Scottish National, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom he has recorded and toured extensively throughout Europe and America.
He has worked with conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Bernard Haitink, Colin Davis, Sakari Oramo, Antonio Pappano, Daniele Gatti, Matthias Bamert, Vassily Sinaiski, Gianandrea Noseda, Alexander Lazarev, Emmanuel Krivine, Douglas Boyd, and Leonard Slatkin.
As a chamber musician, he has been a member of prize-winning string quartets, and works regularly with two versatile London-based ensembles. He has performed in most major British concert halls and has played for the British Royal Family, both in public and by private invitation. His teachers were Milan Skampa, Ian Jewel, and Andriy Viytovich. Mr. Bootiman was a student of Kim Kashkashian at the New England Conservatory, where he completed his Master of Music degree. Also an award-winning composer, Mr. Bootiman writes when he finds time, and attempts to actively maintain his piano playing as a violist's accompanist.
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