Praised for her "luscious, full sound" (American Record Guide) and "effortless precision" (Flutist Quarterly), Nicole Riner maintains an active national presence as a recitalist and pedagogue. She has presented master classes at universities and conservatories across the country and has performed with orchestras and at music festivals in the United States, South America, and Europe. A champion of new music, Nicole has also commissioned and premiered numerous works as a soloist and chamber musician. In 2016, she joined the board of Flute New Music Consortium, a commissioning organization for flutists. In 2022 she became president of FNMC.

Nicole currently teaches flute and entrepreneurship classes at University of Wyoming, where she also oversees the Music Entrepreneurship Certificate program. Previous teaching appointments include Sulzbach-Rosenberg International Music Festival, Interlochen Arts Camp, Michigan State University, and Indiana University-Purdue University. In the public school realm, Nicole is founder and artistic director of Chamber Music Lab, a residency program for high school bands, and Flute Crew, a middle school group learning experience for flutists. She has also a served as guest instructor for iCadenza's Coro program, where you can find her instructional videos for emerging music entrepreneurs looking to develop their private teaching studios.

Much in demand as a clinician and lecturer, Nicole's dissertation, The Girls in the Band: Women's Perspectives on Gender Stereotyping in the Music Classroom, has been presented at national conferences in Colorado, Wyoming, and Hawaii, reviewed in the online magazine GEMS (Gender, Education, and Music Studies), and cited in Dr. Estelle Jorgensen's book, The Art of Teaching Music (2008). Articles focused on pedagogy, performance techniques, and entrepreneurship have been published in Colorado Flutist, International Tuba-Euphonium Association Journal, The Flute View, Flute Talk, Careers in Music, and the National Flute Association's Pedagogy Anthology, Volume II. She was also a regular reviewer for Flutist Quarterly, the publication of the National Flute Association, from 2010-2020. Her personal blog includes music reviews, pedagogical instruction, and career advice for flutists of all ages.


Through her years of experience developing a multi-faceted portfolio career, Nicole has recently begun accepting clients as a career coach. Her individual and team career coaching sessions focus on helping emerging professional musicians create their unique artistic identities and successfully navigate their careers.


Nicole holds degrees from University of Illinois (BM), Michigan State University (MM), and Indiana University (DM). She is grateful to have studied with Kathryn Lukas, Richard Sherman, Alexander Murray, and Jan Boland. Her live performances have been broadcast on NPR affiliate stations in Michigan, Minnesota, Wyoming, and Colorado, where she had a recurring role as both writer and performer in the series, Telling Stories. She has recorded for ACA Digital, Albany, and Centaur Record labels and is also co-creator and co-host of the new music podcast, Music Crush. Nicole is an Altus Performing Artist.


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