“Then he sat down and gave a beautifully soulful performance… rich in tone and wise beyond its years.” -The Boston Globe
Recipient of the 2016-2018 Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship, cellist and conductor Nico Olarte-Hayes has given solo recitals at Lincoln Center and the Neue Galerie in New York City, in Memphis’ Artists Ascending Series and New York’s Young Musician’s Forum, and throughout the Netherlands and Japan. As cellist, he has played on Live From Lincoln Center (PBS) and The Kennedy Center Honors (CBS) in tribute to violinist Itzhak Perlman, a longtime mentor, and has collaborated frequently with Perlman, most notably in the grand opening gala concert of The Kennedy Center’s Family Theater. Other collaborations include performances with mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, pianist Christopher O’Riley in Boston’s Jordan Hall, and violinist Ryu Goto in sold-out tours of Japan and the United States, broadcast on PBS, NPR, and Fuji TV, respectively.
As conductor, Nico is the recipient of a Sir Georg Solti Foundation Career Assistance Award for 2023. He won First Prize in the Vincent C. LaGuardia Conducting Competition, and has served as Music Director of New York’s IconoClassic Opera and Harvard’s Dunster House Opera, leading fully staged productions of Massenet’s Werther and Britten’s Albert Herring. Nico has led the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Sofia Festival Orchestra, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic, Savaria Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Antonio Soler, and Salzburg Chamber Soloists as a conductor in numerous international workshops, including the Tanglewood Festival Conducting Seminar. In 2016, he led the New World Symphony in a workshop with Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and served as cover conductor for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.
A passionate educator, Nico recently served on the faculty of the Valissima Institute for young female conductors, and for a number of years has collaborated with Kenya’s Art of Music Foundation to bring music lessons to underserved students in Nairobi. As a teenager, Nico toured extensively as an ambassador for Midori and Friends, giving performances in New York’s public schools, and on the third anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, was asked by the City of New York to perform at “Ground Zero” for the official memorial on NBC. In recognition of his artistic contributions, Nico was awarded the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award, given a Hispanic Heritage Youth Award, and honored by the Davidson Institute for Talent Development.
Nico was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and began his musical studies with his mother at the age of three. He completed pre-college studies “with distinction” at The Juilliard School under cellists David Soyer and Harvey Shapiro, and studied for many years at the Perlman Music Program under Ronald Leonard. Nico graduated with honors from the Harvard/NEC Joint Program, simultaneously earning an A.B. in Physics from Harvard College, where he studied music with Robert Levin, and his M.M. from the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Laurence Lesser. While at Harvard, Nico coached numerous student groups, performed as soloist with the Bach Society Orchestra, and was Assistant Conductor of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra. He currently lives in New York, where he serves on the faculty of Juilliard’s Pre-College Division and the Perlman Music Program.
Last updated: March 2024