NIck Platoff

is harnessing the power of music to bring compounding benefit to the world.

Hello and welcome! I’m Nick and I am obsessed with music’s ability to nourish and empower us.

I play trombone with the San Francisco Symphony and create as a singer, improviser, composer/arranger/producer, concert producer, soloist, conductor, and recording artist.

I make many kinds of music in many locations, teach in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College Division and for the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra.

You can learn more about my story here.

If you think I can add value to your event or project, have a question, or want to reach out for any other reason, I would love to hear from you. You can contact me here.

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

Name

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Do you play trombone?

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Videos

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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.

Between two of my trombone heroes, Joe Alessi and Per Brevig, after teaching studio class at Juilliard October 2018.

My Story

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.
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.
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.

In September 2016, I joined the San Francisco Symphony as Associate Principal Trombone. Since then, I've had the pleasure of performing over 500 concerts with beloved colleagues at our home in Davies Symphony Hall and many of the world's great concert halls.
Outside of my symphony work, I love making music whenever and wherever possible.
In addition to performing my own pop music, I love performing as a trombone soloist— some recent highlights include the Tchaikovsky Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia and a performance with my amazing SFS colleagues Mark Inouye and Paul Welcomer with the SFCM Brass Ensemble. I also love collaborating 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 spend a lot of time composing and recording in my home studio and performing all over the place— Black Rock City’s deep playa, Moroccan dance clubs, Miami yoga classes, 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, all over the San Francisco Bay Area in major sports stadiums, bars, clubs, parties, churches, schools, BART stations, sidewalks, and homeless shelters in addition to countless more living rooms and backyards across the world and all over the internet.
I teach locally at SFCM and SFSYO, and recently as a guest at the Juilliard School, Yale University, and National Orchestral Institute.
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 ❤️. If you'd like to get involved with the work I'm doing in the Bay Area with Global Shapers or the Sheltertech concert series, please email me here.