Nicole León is a Paris-based violinist and teaching artist. She has performed on some of the world's most prestigious concert stages, including Carnegie Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Wiener Musikverein, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the Philharmonie de Paris.
A seasoned orchestral musician, Nicole was a member of the Paris Chamber Orchestra from 2016 to 2018. During her tenure with the ensemble, she performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées alongside renowned soloists such as François Leleux, Lisa Batiashvili, Emmanuel Pahud, Steven Isserlis, Antoine Tamestit and Daniel Hope.
Appearing regularly with Orchestre de Paris since their 2017-18 season, she has performed under the baton of Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph Eschenbach, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Paavo Järvi, Jaap van Zweden, Mikhaïl Pletnev, Lahav Shani, Semyon Bychkov and Klaus Mäkelä. In 2023, she joined the orchestra on tour with soloist Janine Jansen, performing extensively throughout France, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands.
A champion of new music, Nicole has premiered works by many of today's leading composers, including the world premiere of Régis Campo's Fata Morgana II, which the composer dedicated to her. She also gave the European premieres of Evan Fein's Untranslatable for violin and piano and Paul Desenne's Diásporas for string quartet.
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Nicole holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the Juilliard School, where she was a full-scholarship student of Itzhak Perlman. In addition, she earned an Artist Diploma from the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris in 2016. Teachers and mentors include Orlando Faneite, Dorothy DeLay, Catherine Cho, Roland Daugareil, Christophe Poiget, Maurice Hasson and Virginie Robilliard.
Committed to fostering a lifelong love of music in her students, Nicole currently serves on the artist faculty of the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Départemental du Blanc-Mesnil.
Nicole lives in Paris with her husband and their two young children. She performs on a Francis Kuttner violin crafted in Cremona in 2011.