Nikola Tomić is a versatile trumpet performer and educator with more than twenty-five years of professional experience. Based in Western New York, Nikola previously lived and worked in New York’s Capital Region and New York City, performing upstate at venues including Proctors Theatre, the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and downstate at the Jazz Gallery, Swing 46, the Drawing Room, the Cutting Room, and the Miller Theatre at Columbia University. He has played with orchestras including the Buffalo Philharmonic, Binghamton Philharmonic, and Schenectady-Saratoga Symphony, and in jazz groups led by David Berger, Chuck Israels, Bobby Previte, Walter White, and Erica Seguine, among others. Festival appearances include the Umbria Jazz Festival (Perugia, Italy), the Rochester International Jazz Festival, the Tri-C JazzFest (Cleveland, Ohio), and the International Cervantino Festival (Guanajuato, Mexico).
Nikola serves as assistant professor of trumpet at SUNY Fredonia, having taught previously at the Longy School of Music of Bard College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Cornell University, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, and the Ithaca College School of Music. Nikola’s pedagogical articles “Upward Spiral” (March 2020) and “Alternative Approaches to Warming Up” (June 2019) were published in the ITG Journal, to which he has also contributed more than two dozen CD reviews.
Nikola holds doctoral and master’s degrees in Jazz Studies & Contemporary Media from the Eastman School of Music and a bachelor’s degree in Trumpet Performance from Ithaca College. His teachers have included Clay Jenkins, Bill Dobbins, Harold Danko, Frank Gabriel Campos, and Steve Brown.
Upcoming Events:
July 13 to 16, 2026 - Teaching at Capital Region Summer Trumpet Institute, Schenectady, NY
September 12, 2026 - 5:30 to 7:00 pm - Alejandro Bernard-Papachryssanthou and Friends: “Hear With You, Here With Me” at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Ithaca, NY
November 19, 2026 - Faculty Recital of Dr. James Harrington at Rosch Recital Hall, Fredonia, NY
Recent Events:
May 3, 2026 - 7:00 to 9:30 pm - Fredonia Jazz Workshop Faculty-Student Jam Session at Blue Devil Lounge, Fredonia, NY
April 5, 2026 - 11:00 am to 12:30 pm - Easter Sunday at Holy Trinity Parish, Hudson, NY
April 5, 2026 - 9:00 to 10:30 am - Easter Sunday at Holy Trinity Parish, Hudson, NY
March 18, 2026 - 3:00 to 4:30 pm - Trumpet Clinic at Alden High School, Alden, NY
February 28, 2026 - 7:30 to 9:00 pm - Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra “Dancing & Romancing” - Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, NY
December 10, 2025 - 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm - Holiday Jazz Concert with Nick Weiser Quintet at Domus Fare, Fredonia, NY
December 10, 2025 - 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm - Holiday Jazz Concert with Nick Weiser Quintet at Domus Fare, Fredonia, NY
December 5, 2025 - 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm - Secondary Trumpet Revisited: Myths and Methods - NYSSMA All-State Conference, Rochester, NY
November 15, 2015 - 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm - Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra “Clouds in My Coffee” - Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, NY
October 9, 2025 - 8:00 to 9:00 pm - Faculty Recital of Dr. Chris Hotaling at Rosch Recital Hall, Fredonia, NY
September 20, 2025 - 7:30 to 9:00 pm - Sinatra at the Sands Reprise with Frank Torchio and the Russell Scarbrough Jazz Orchestra at OFC Creations Theatre Centre, Rochester, NY
June 30 to July 3, 2025 - Teaching at Capital Region Summer Trumpet Institute, Schenectady, NY
June 26, 2025 - 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm - Schenectady Brass Quintet for Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School Graduation at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY
June 24, 2025 - 10:30 am to 12:00 pm - “Concert for One” with Ye Hu at Saratoga Senior Center, Saratoga Springs, NY
June 14, 2025 - 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm - The Upstate Composer’s Orchestra with Bobby Previte at Hudson Hall Gala, Hudson, NY
June 1, 2025 - 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm - The Upstate Composer’s Orchestra with Bobby Previte at Avalon Lounge, Catskill, NY
May 18, 2025 - 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm - Concert for Peace with Octavo Singers at First Reformed Church, Schenectady, NY
April 20, 2025 - 11:00 am to 12:30 pm - Easter Sunday at Holy Trinity Parish, Hudson, NY
April 20, 2025 - 9:00 to 10:30 am - Easter Sunday at Holy Trinity Parish, Hudson, NY
April 13, 2025 - 3:00 to 4:30 pm - Verdi Requiem with Schenectady-Saratoga Symphony Orchestra and Octavo Singers at Proctors Theatre, Schenectady, NY
April 5, 2025 - 7:45 to 9:00 pm - Brucker/Weisse/Canterbury Jazz Orchestra, SUNY Albany Campus Center West, Albany, NY
December 14, 2024 - 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm - Frank’s Christmas in Vegas with Frank Torchio and the Russell Scarbrough Jazz Orchestra at the Kallet Theater, Pulaski, NY
December 8, 2024 - 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm - Faculty New Chamber Music Concert - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
December 7, 2024 - 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm - Hudson Festival Orchestra Brass - First Presbyterian Church, Hudson, NY
November 23, 2024 - 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm - Berkshire Brass Quartet - St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Albany NY
November 9, 2024 - 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm - Octavo Singers with Organ and Brass Choir - First Reformed Church, Schenectady, NY
October 20, 2024 - 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm - Schenectady-Saratoga Symphony Orchestra at Proctors Theatre, Schenectady, NY
October 19, 2024 - 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm - Schenectady-Saratoga Symphony Orchestra at Zankel Music Center, Saratoga Springs, NY
September 22, 2024 - 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm - Some Like it Hot at Proctors Theatre, Schenectady, NY
September 21, 2024 - 8:00 pm to 10:30 pm - Some Like it Hot at Proctors Theatre, Schenectady, NY
September 21, 2024 - 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm - Some Like it Hot at Proctors Theatre, Schenectady, NY
September 20, 2024 - 8:00 pm to 10:30 pm - Some Like it Hot at Proctors Theatre, Schenectady, NY
September 19, 2024 - 8:00 pm to 10:30 pm - Some Like it Hot at Proctors Theatre, Schenectady, NY
September 19, 2024 - 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm - Some Like it Hot at Proctors Theatre, Schenectady, NY
September 18, 2024 - 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm - Some Like it Hot at Proctors Theatre, Schenectady, NY
September 17, 2024 - 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm - Some Like it Hot at Proctors Theatre, Schenectady, NY
July 27, 2024 - 8:00 pm to 10:30 pm - Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at Capital Repertory Theatre, Albany, NY
July 27, 2024 - 3:00 pm to 5:30 pm - Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at Capital Repertory Theatre, Albany, NY
July 24, 2024 - 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm - Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at Capital Repertory Theatre, Albany, NY
July 15 to 18, 2024 - Teaching at Capital Region Summer Trumpet Institute, Schenectady, NY
July 14, 2024 - 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm - Triphammer Big Band with Paul Merrill and Mike Titlebaum at CRS Barn Studio, Ithaca, NY