BIOGRAPHY
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Nicole León hails from a musical family. At just eight years old, she became the youngest student accepted to Dorothy DeLay's studio in the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School. Nicole has performed on the world's finest concert stages, including Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Musikverein in Vienna, 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 regularly at the iconic Théâtre des Champs-Élysées as well as the Royal Opera of Versailles and the Opéra-Comique in Paris. She collaborated with renowned soloists such as François Leleux, Lisa Batiashvili, Emmanuel Pahud, Antoine Tamestit, Steven Isserlis, Natalie Dessay and Daniel Hope. She also served as teaching artist in the orchestra's outreach program, bringing educational concerts to public schools in Paris.
Appearing regularly with Orchestre de Paris since their 2017-2018 season, she has performed under the baton of Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph Eschenbach, Paavo Järvi, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jaap van Zweden, Mikhaïl Pletnev, Lahav Shani, Semyon Bychkov and Klaus Mäkelä. In 2023, she joined the orchestra on tour with Janine Jansen, performing extensively throughout France, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands.
Nicole holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the Juilliard School and an Artist Diploma from the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris. Principal teachers include Itzhak Perlman, Catherine Cho, Christophe Poiget and Dorothy DeLay. A long-time admirer of the late Francis Kuttner, she performs on a violin he made in Cremona in 2011. She can be heard on Itzhak Perlman's Eternal Echoes: Songs and Dances for the Soul and Gautier Capuçon's 2017 album Intuition.
Deeply committed to fostering a lifelong love of music in her students, Nicole serves on the faculties of the Blanc-Mesnil Conservatory, Enchantons! and L'Apprenti Musicien. She also maintains a private studio in the Paris metropolitan area. Click on "Teaching" for more information.
Nicole lives in Paris with her husband, Daniel, their son, Gabriel, and a rescue cat named Panache. When not teaching or performing, she enjoys reading, salsa dancing with her husband, and listening to the same Tito Rodriguez album over and over. Frequent but less enjoyable activities include negotiating nap time with her toddler, checking Citymapper obsessively in an effort to arrive on time for appointments, and drawing a blank in at least one language.