Nikolaj Viltoft

Nikolaj Viltoft (b. 1977) studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and the Hochschule für Musik, Cologne.

During his studies, Nikolaj was selected for the European Union Youth Orchestra and Orkester Norden, and he has been contracted to the Danish National Symphony Orchestra (then the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra) and other Danish orchestras.

Teaching

Nikolaj has taught trumpet at RDAM since 2008.

“We have a proud brass tradition in Copenhagen that is based on a warm, cantabile sound, and has attracted international attention. We therefore also have a good record when it comes to trumpet students winning competitions for permanent positions in orchestras around the globe. I very much enjoy continuing and developing this proud tradition.”

Artistic practice

In 2003, as a newly graduated trumpet player, Nikolaj won the position of principal trumpet player with the Paris Opera after a three-round competition, becoming the first foreign player in the orchestra – which caused quite a stir in the trumpet community in France, which, because of Maurice André, has always been a proud and very self-aware institution. Just a few years later, in 2006, Nikolaj won the position of principal trumpet with the Royal Danish Orchestra, where he has been employed ever since.

With the brass quintet Art of Brass Copenhagen, he won the International Brass Quintet Competition in Narbonne in 2000 and the International Jan Koetsier Wettbewerb in Munich in 1999.