Nicolas Richard joins the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as Associate Principal Bassoon at the beginning of the 2024/25 season.
In addition to having previously held positions with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and the Niagara Symphony Orchestra, he was in frequent demand as an orchestral player and has enjoyed performances with Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, the National Ballet of Canada, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, Esprit Orchestra, and others.
Expanding beyond orchestral pursuits, Nicolas has been featured as a soloist with the NAC Orchestra, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Ottawa Orchestra. He was awarded the first prize in the NAC Orchestra Bursary Competition and the second prize in the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Competition. Nicolas’s has received awards from the O’Brien Foundation and the Sylba Gelber Foundation in support of his studies. His summers were musically enriched at the Music Academy of the West, the National Repertory Orchestra, the National Academy Orchestra, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. He has given masterclasses at Arkansas Tech University and has taught as a mentor at the National Academy Orchestra.
Originally from Fredericton, New Brunswick, Nicolas completed his Bachelor of Music at the University of Ottawa and his Master of Music at Rice University‘s Shepherd School of Music under the tutelage of Christopher Millard and Benjamin Kamins, respectively. Other important mentors include Nadina Mackie, Richard Hoenich, and the TSO’s retired Principal Bassoon Michael Sweeney. He is equally grateful for his earliest teachers, Yvonne Kershaw, Patrick Bolduc, and Kristin Day.