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 masterclasses at universities and conservatories across the country and has performed as a guest artist at summer festivals, chamber music series, and flute fairs in the United States and Europe. A champion of contemporary music, Nicole has also collaborated with Pulitzer Prize winning composer Jennifer Higdon and has given the world premieres of new works by Richard Faith, Anne Guzzo, Beth Custer, and Randall Shinn. Recent solo performances include the National Flute Association Conventions in Albuquerque and Charlotte and New Frontiers Contemporary Music Festival.
Nicole currently teaches at University of Wyoming, where she is guest artist faculty in flute and founder/ director of the Summit Flute Institute. Prior appointments include the nationally recognized Interlochen Arts Camp, Michigan State University, University of Northern Colorado, and Indiana University-Purdue University. She has also held positions with Wyoming Symphony and Humbach Theatrehoff Orchestra.
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 and published in the online magazine GEMS (Gender, Education, and Music Studies). Her pedagogical writings have been published in Colorado Flutist, International Tuba-Euphonium Association Journal, Flute Talk, and the National Flute Association's Pedagogy Anthology, Volume II. She is also a regular reviewer for Flutist Quarterly, the publication of the National Flute Association.
Nicole received the Doctor of Music in flute performance and literature from Indiana University. Previous teachers include Kathryn Lukas, Barbara Kallaur (Baroque flute), Richard Sherman, Alexander Murray, and Dr. Janice Boland. She can be heard on recordings with Wyoming Symphony and Mahler Fest, and her live performances have been broadcast on Interlochen (MI) Public Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, and Colorado Public Radio, where she has a recurring role in the Telling Stories series as both a perfomer and a writer. Her first solo CD, Eastern Gems, was released by Centaur Records in July 2010. She has also published a book of essays about her performance-related travel, Driving a Rental Car in Heels.