NIck Platoff

Photo by Ling Wang Photography

Nick Platoff harnesses the power of music to deliver compounding benefit to the world. He enjoys a multi-faceted career as a trombonist, composer/producer, singer, educator, conductor, and concert producer. Nick joined the Houston Symphony Orchestra as Principal Trombone in September 2024, and will join the faculty of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University as Associate Professor of Trombone in September 2025. He previously performed for eight seasons as Associate Principal Trombone of the San Francisco Symphony, where he was appointed by Michael Tilson Thomas at age 23.

Nick loves using music to delight, inspire, and empower audiences, and does so in a wide variety of mediums and genres as a soloist as well as in collaboration with artists like Jacob Collier, KNOWER, esperanza spalding, Common, Metallica, Steve Lacy, Sigur Rós, Nu Deco Ensemble, the New York Philharmonic, and Yo-Yo Ma.

Recent highlights include conducting the Stanford Brass Ensemble on a concert which included the world premiere of his The Fanford Stanfare, composing music for Ramazan Nanayev’s film Ikigai and producing a silly music video about spies, both to be premiered Fall 2024. In August 2024, he toured Spain with Zirzuví, a Santa Cruz based band specializing in Sephardic music. Other proud moments include the August 2023 world premiere of his Symphony No. 1 with the SF Civic Symphony, and the November 2022 release of his debut album Limousine of Creative Potential featuring songs written and recorded in his friend Joel’s limousine during the pandemic.

Nick’s compositions center on themes of family, hope, mental health, and nature, and he genre-hops between the symphonic world, silly-pop, bumpin’ funk bangers, heartfelt tributes, and jungle soundscape. He regularly performs as a singer-songwriter on the Sofar Sounds series.

Nick has previously served as a faculty member at Stanford University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College Division, and the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. As a guest educator, he has recently taught at Yale University, the Juilliard School, the New World Symphony, the National Orchestral Institute, and Amateur Music Network. He has collaborated as video producer and co-host with his father, musicologist John Platoff, on various San Francisco Symphony online educational events as well as the Professor Platoff YouTube channel. Nick is a proud alumnus of New Haven’s Neighborhood Music School, Northwestern University, and the New World Symphony.

If you’d like to hear about upcoming shows, livestreams, and releases, you can put your info in below to receive email updates.

Education

Music has tremendous power for positive impact in the world. I consider it a great responsibility to share it with all people, and to share what I’ve learned to empower the next generation of musicians, just as my teachers and colleagues have done (and continue to do!) for me. 

When I teach, I aim to equip each student with all of the tools necessary for their continued individual improvement. Teachers can guide someone in the right direction, but ultimately each student does the work on their own. 

Together, we work on building and refining a simple, relaxed, and efficient technical approach to the instrument, where the body and mind are aligned for turning energy into sound. I encourage my students to explore different musical styles and understand each music’s unique building blocks of rhythm, style, tone color, and phrasing. 

Then, with technique and specific musical understanding, we work to communicate maximum expression to the audience.

If you'd like to schedule a lesson or class, contact me here.

My Story

New Haven, Connecticut 1992-2010

I grew up in a musical household in New Haven, Connecticut. My dad, musicologist John Platoff, introduced me to an enormous variety of classical, pop, and world music, and we sang often together as a family. I started studying trombone with Jim Fryer and Terrence Fay at Neighborhood Music School in fourth grade. After discovering the symphonies of Gustav Mahler at age 16, I decided to pursue music professionally.

Chicago 2010-2014

I attended Northwestern University for my Bachelors of Music in Trombone Performance and Music Theory, and studied with Michael Mulcahy, Christopher Davis, Peter Ellefson, Randall Hawes, Timothy Higgins, and Douglas Wright (also counting Ian Bousfield, Per Brevig, and Warren Deck as important mentors I've learned from over the years). As a sophomore, I founded the Players Operation Chamber Orchestra, a 40-person ensemble that showcased the talents of student composers and soloists, and served as its conductor and artistic director.

Miami 2014-2016

After college, I moved to Miami Beach to begin a fellowship with the New World Symphony. In addition to performing weekly concerts and studying with visiting faculty, I produced and curated MIXTAPE, a live concert adaptation of the multi-genre listening parties I hosted in college, to a standing-room only audience, 42% of whom were attending a NWS concert for the first time.

This was also the beginning of my career as an educator, teaching my first lessons and masterclasses in addition to co-founding the Miami Brass Festival, a day-long clinic for high school-age brass students.

San Francisco 2016-2024

In September 2016, I joined the San Francisco Symphony as Associate Principal Trombone, and over the following eight seasons I had the pleasure of performing over 1000 concerts with my colleagues at our home in Davies Symphony Hall and many of the world's great concert halls in the US, Europe, and Asia. I also found my voice as a composer, singer-songwriter, and improviser during this time, especially during the pandemic when I wrote and recorded my debut album Limousine of Creative Potential. I got into live-looping and playing with bands, sometimes even busking late at night on street corners and BART stations, and for a few years adopted the attitude/affirmation “Nick Platoff is Everywhere” (which now sounds way too tiring lol).

I performed at Burning Man, at a night club in Morocco, the summit of Montfort in the Swiss Alps, jazz clubs and shopping malls in Thailand, fire ceremonies and tea lounges in Guatemala, a Bavarian wedding, parks and marinas throughout Italy, the Museum of Non-Conformist Art in St. Petersburg, and all over the Bay Area in major sports stadiums, bars, clubs, parties, churches, schools, and homeless shelters in addition to countless more living rooms and backyards across the world and all over the internet. I joined the pre-college faculty at San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 2018, and then Stanford University in 2022.

I performed as a trombone soloist at the Tchaikovsky Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia and with my SFS colleagues Mark Inouye and Paul Welcomer with the SFCM Brass Ensemble. I played with Bay Area groups like Mercury Soul and Jazz Mafia, as well as the Miami-based Nu Deco Ensemble (OMG this concert with Jacob Collier…). I composed my Symphony No. 1 for my friend Arun Saigal and the SF Civic Symphony in August 2023, and The Fanford Stanfare for the Stanford Brass ensemble in April 2024, then simultaneously wrote my first film score for Ramazan Nanayev’s IKIGAI while also producing the music video Spying on Shannon with my friends Shannon and Erika in May and June of 2024.

My Bay Area chapter was an unbelievable adventure of growth, exploration, and fun. I wouldn’t trade anything for the experiences I had and friends I made there, but after eight years I was ready for a change.

Houston 2024-present

After a successful audition in October 2023, I joined the Houston Symphony as Principal Trombone in September 2024, and have loved the beginning of this new chapter. I will also join the faculty at Rice University in September 2025. I really enjoy my new leadership role in the orchestra, school, and city overall. After 32 years of figuring out who I am and want to become as a musician and person, I feel ready to contribute to a fresh new scene, and can’t thank my new colleagues, friends, and fans here in Houston for welcoming me with such warmth! The best is yet to come, and if you join my email list above, all of it will be delivered straight to your inbox!

Thanks for taking the time to read the more in depth telling of my story! I feel extreme gratitude toward the many communities that have given me the opportunity to do what I love. To all of my dear friends, colleagues, mentors, and listeners: I appreciate you so much. Please know that every note is for you ❤️