MUSE • Musicians United for Social Equity

Biography

Nicole DeMaio is a woodwind specialist, composer, and educator born in Bogotá, Colombia and based in New York City. A true multi-instrumentalist, she performs on flutes, clarinets, saxophones, bassoon, oboe, and a range of world flutes, moving fluidly between musical theatre, concert work, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

She is currently appearing as an actor-musician in My Joy Is Heavy at New York Theatre Workshop. Her Off-Broadway credits include The Threepenny Opera (starring George Abud and Katrina Lenk), Show/Boat: A River, Welcome to The Big Dipper, and GOOD SHOWBIZ. On Broadway, she has worked as a substitute musician on Gypsy, Some Like It Hot, Aladdin, 1776, Kimberly Akimbo, and A Strange Loop, and more. She performed Reed 2 on the national tour of An American in Paris and has also subbed on Reed 2 for the tour of Fiddler on the Roof.

Nicole’s love for a wide range of musical styles has shaped a versatile career that spans genres and brings her to stages around the world. Recent highlights include performing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, a sold-out show at King’s Theater with Yoko Kanno and The Seatbelts, Yandel’s Sinfónico Tour in New York City, and opening Lincoln Center’s 2025 Summer for the City season with Lulada Club, NYC’s leading all-women salsa group. She has also appeared at Lincoln Center alongside Ariana DeBose in her solo show Authenticity, and performed in Tony Award nominee L Morgan Lee’s solo show at MCC Theater. Additional live collaborations include performances with Gloria Gaynor, Bruce Springsteen, Jordan Fisher, Jessica Vosk, Brian d’Arcy James, Robin De Jesús, Lea Michele, Darren Criss, and others.

Collaboration across disciplines is a central part of her practice. She has worked closely with dancers and visual artists on new projects, including In The Fold with Kenia Rosete Dance, a multimedia performance integrating movement, projection, and sculpture, and Shadowboxing in Blue with Danse Theatre Surreality, staged in a boxing ring with performers trained as boxers. Her ongoing installation project, Through the Tin Can, blends visual art and sound and has been presented at SMUSH Gallery, the Apple Tree House, and New Jersey City University.

Nicole is a member of The Broadway Sinfonietta, an all-women, majority women-of-color orchestra dedicated to amplifying underrepresented voices. With the ensemble, she has performed The Barbie Movie: Live in Concert at the Hollywood Bowl and Royal Albert Hall, as well as projects including Carnegie Hall Presents, the Cowboy Bebop 25th Anniversary Concert, Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical, and 365 Days of Girlhood at the Rainbow Room.

As an educator, she has taught woodwinds at Monmouth University and K–12 music at Kent Place School, Far Brook School, and Boston College High School. She maintains a private studio of woodwind students.

Her compositions have been performed nationally and recognized by organizations including Vox Novus and the Pictures Composition Contest. Her work Solo for Bassoon Alone was selected as required repertoire for the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition. Recent commissions include projects with The Rivers School Conservatory, Classical Music Indy, Infrasound, and the Yale School of Music’s Music in Schools Initiative.

She is the Director of Black Sheep Contemporary Ensemble, a group dedicated to performing new music, interdisciplinary collaboration, and audience education. Her arts administration experience includes work with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, the Boston Civic Symphony, Tomoko Akaboshi’s tutti, and Isaac Hayward’s Hell’s Kitchen Laboratory Orchestra.

Nicole holds degrees in Multiple Woodwind Performance from New Jersey City University, Music Education and Music Theory/Composition from Montclair State University, and Composition from The Boston Conservatory.

Instrument List:

Piccolo, C Flute, Alto Flute

Eb, Bb, A, Alto, Bass Clarinets

Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone Saxophones

Bassoon

Oboe, English Horn

Soprano, Alto, Tenor Recorders

Bansuri

Pan Flute

Quena

Shakuhachi

Duduk