Nigel Armstrong
Violin
Nigel Armstrong, violin and concertmaster candidate
A native of Sonoma, CA, Nigel Armstrong has enjoyed using the violin in a versatile manner since his start with Leta Davis’s “Little Fiddlers” at the age of 5. His performances have taken him to Argentina, where he collaborated with jazz and tango pianist Diego Schissi, to Russia, where he performed violin concertos by Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev in the 2011 Tchaikovsky Competition, and to Asia (China and South Korea), where he’s performed on multiple occasions as a chamber musician, recitalist, and as an extra with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He’s also enjoyed dabbling in bluegrass, appearing numerous times over the years with the DePue Brothers Band. Career highlights include performing Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben as concertmaster of the Curtis Orchestra, a recital and lecture presented by the LA Chamber Orchestra exploring Bach’s solo violin music, sharing the stage with Roberto Diaz in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, and occasional free-improv appearances at Santa Cruz’s local kava bar.
As soloist Armstrong has shared the stage with conductors such as Carl St.Clair, Sir Neville Marriner, Gerard Schwarz, Alasdair Neale, Christoph Poppen, and Carlos Miguel Prieto, and with orchestras including the LA Chamber Orchestra, l’Orchestre de La Baule, the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, SoCal’s Pacific Symphony, the Orquesta Nacional de Costa Rica, the Marin and Berkeley Symphonies, and the Santa Cruz Symphony. As concertmaster, he’s appeared with the North Carolina Symphony, Orchestra of the Americas, the Jacksonville Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra, New Orleans’ Louisiana Symphony Orchestra, and the Pacific Symphony, as well as with numerous Bay Area orchestras. From 2016 to 2023, he served as concertmaster of the Santa Cruz Symphony, and he continues to call Santa Cruz—in all its delightful funkiness—home.
A graduate of the Colburn School and the Curtis Institute of Music, Armstrong’s teachers have included Arnold Steinhardt, Robert Lipsett, Zaven Melikian, and Donald Weilerstein, among others. He also feels fortunate to have lived with and learned from the Plum Village community founded by monk and author Thich Nhat Hanh, where he spent a formative year working on their organic farm and taking part in their daily life.
