- Biography
Nathaniel EFTHIMIOU
Nathaniel Efthimiou is the Assistant Conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, an Assistant Professor of Music at Berklee College of Music, and the founding Music Director of Orchestra Contempo. He is a two-time recipient of The Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award and was a quarter-finalist in the 2021 Donatella Flick Conducting Competition with the London Symphony Orchestra. He won the James Conlon Conducting Prize 2016 at the Aspen Music Festival and School where he spent two summers as a Conducting Fellow studying with Robert Spano, Larry Rachleff and Hugh Wolff. In 2020, he completed the Doctor of Musical Arts programme from Boston University where he was mentored by Bramwell Tovey.
Efthimiou has conducted orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra, Amarillo Symphony and Rhode Island Philharmonic. As an assistant, he has worked with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Portland Symphony and Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra, covering conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, David Robertson, Bramwell Tovey and Stefan Asbury. In the opera pit, he has participated in masterclasses with Nicholas McGegan and Patrick Summers, and has assisted productions ranging from Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore.
Efthimiou is a passionate advocate for new music. A composer himself, he has studied with Joel Hoffman, David Ludwig and David Davies. His work has been featured in composition festivals such as the Atlantic Music Festival, UPBEAT in Milna, Croatia, and WSKG’s television program, Expressions, in Binghamton, New York.
Efthimiou holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition and a Master of Arts degree from Greatbatch School of Music at Houghton College. He is a dual citizen of the USA and Finland and currently resides in Massachusetts.