Nikka Gershman is a flutist and composer dedicated to expanding the flute’s solo and chamber repertoire through original compositions and transcriptions. Gershman made history as the youngest-ever Kovner Fellow at The Juilliard School, where she will graduate with a Bachelor of Music Degree in 2027 from the studio of Carol Wincenc. 

Gershman is a published composer by the internationally-renowned Theodore Presser Company. Her publications include transcriptions of Ravel’s La Valse, Three Operatic Encores (arrangements of Verdi, Strauss, and Wagner), and her original work When We Used to Dance. Additionally, Gershman has created and premiered transcriptions of works by Liszt, Shostakovich, Beethoven, Smetana, Schnittke, and Mendelssohn. Among her growing catalogue of compositions for solo, chamber, and orchestral ensembles, Gershman paid tribute to her heritage by dedicating a piece entitled Memory to Ukrainian war victims, written for solo flute and orchestra. She premiered an excerpt from her Atonement Sonata for flute and piano at Lincoln Center’s NEXT250, a concert curated by Lara Downes which celebrated the future of American music-making.

Gershman has performed at the Wiener Konzerthaus, Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Alice Tully Hall, and as a soloist with orchestras including the Vienna Opera Ball Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, and Los Angeles Virtuosi Orchestra. In addition to concertizing at celebrated venues, Gershman is dedicated to bringing classical music outside the traditional concert hall. Using her art to benefit various underprivileged social groups, she has played in hospitals, homeless shelters, and retirement homes.

Her artistry has been recognized internationally: Gershman was named the Flute Almanac’s 2024 “Emerging Artist of the Year” and a YoungArts National Winner with Distinction. She received the Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, was selected by Sir James Galway for his “Outstanding Junior Performer” Award, and represents Wm. S. Haynes Flutes as a Young Artist. 

Frequently featured on WQXR-FM, Gershman has also appeared on NPR’s From the Top, The Violin Channel, and PBS. She was profiled by The Flute View, recognized by amNY as a “Magic Flutist”, and hailed as a “Rising Star” by Our Town NY. Gershman uses her platform on Instagram to inspire listeners across the world, with a growing diverse audience of over 36,000 followers, and her videos reaching millions of views. Her artistic philosophy of combining tradition with innovation is reflected in the Music Society of the Future, an organization Gershman founded that is dedicated to empowering visionary musicians.

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