Nicholas Tisherman

Oboist Nicholas Tisherman (he/him) enjoys a varied career performing, teaching, and speaking about music. A skilled orchestral musician, he is a regular guest with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and has performed with the San Antonio Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In summers he has been heard at the Round Top, Bravo! Vail, Breckenridge, Verbier, Tanglewood, and Brevard music festivals, and represented the United States during the Orchestra of the Americas’ first European tour in 2016. Nicholas joined the Colorado Symphony as Second and Assistant Principal Oboe in 2017. 

Equally at home in chamber music, he has performed with small ensembles across the state of Colorado and beyond, notably with the Front Range Chamber Players, Boulder Bach Festival, and in recital with his wind trio “The Assistants.” He has also given recitals in Sarasota and at the International Double Reed Society hosted in Boulder in 2022, which featured the premiere of his first-ever commission, a solo oboe piece by composer Lavell Blackwell. 

A devoted educator, Nicholas gives regular master classes at every major university along the Front Range, coaches students in the Denver Young Artists Orchestra, and maintains a small yet oft-awarded private studio of his own. His passion for teaching has taken him to Interlochen Arts Camp, Round Top Festival Institute, and the Universities of Kansas, Wyoming, and Minnesota, and Northern Arizona. 

Nicholas is committed to serving this organization from both in and out of his chair in the orchestra. If you come to a concert early, you may just hear one of his pre-concert lectures. He has served as the chair of the nine musicians on the Symphony’s Board of Trustees, as well as the musician representative on the Associate Board of the Crescendo Society. 

Born in New York to a family of clarinetists, Nicholas dared to double his reed count when he picked up the oboe at age eight. He enjoys hiking, road tripping, cooking, and performing with his partner, a soprano in the Colorado Symphony Chorus. Nicholas holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory, and his principal mentors have been Richard Dallessio, Linda Strommen, John Ferrillo, and Anne Marie Gabriele.