A graduate of the New England Conservatory and the Global Leaders Institute MBA program, Nikki is the founder of Glass Artists, a musician entertainment agency providing conservatory-trained musicians for luxury weddings and corporate events. She has also served in leadership roles at NEC, overseeing recruitment, marketing, and program management, and co-founded Through the Staff, a nonprofit that has provided over $556,000 in free music lessons to students affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a performer, she has appeared with ensembles including the Boston Philharmonic, Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and is a founding member of the Beacon Street Quartet. She also performs regularly for Fever’s Candlelight Concerts in Boston and Dallas. Beyond the stage, Nikki shares her musical journey and industry insights with a global audience on Instagram (@nikkinaghaviviolin).

Currently, Ms. Hilger serves as the Artistic Director and Principal Violist for Midwest Chamber Ensemble, the Acting Principal Violist for the Topeka Symphony and regularly works as a substitute violist with the Kansas City Symphony. When not performing, Ms. Hilger works as a Teaching Artist for Harmony Project KC, a non-profit organization that aims to provide deserving students with a path to higher education through free music instruction and community support. She is currently representing HPKC as a participant in the 2024 Teaching Artist Training Institute Lab Cohort. Ms. Hilger also maintains a small private studio.

Past achievements include: Solo performances with the Medical Arts Symphony and Midwest Chamber Ensemble, Chamber Music Coordinator for Midwest Chamber Ensemble, positions with the Lee’s Summit and Firelands Symphonies, viola instructor at the Cleveland School of the Arts, section viola in the National Repertory Orchestra and Principal Viola for the National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute. Kathryn also has experience in stage managing, box office, string instrument repair and bookkeeping.

For regular updates, follow Ms. Hilger on Instagram (@kathrynhilger.viola) or visit her website, kathrynhilgerviola.com.

While with MCE he performed as a soloist at the 38th Annual Bachathon in Kansas City and in MCE’s 2016- 17 season finale where his performance garnered high praise. His work with MCE has also included the recording and releasing of three chamber works. Nathan was also a finalist in the MTNA National Chamber Music competition as a member of the Alaudo Quartet. As a soloist Nathan has performed in various competitions in the Kansa City area, including the Kinnor Philharmonic Tiberius Klausner Concerto Competition (Second Prize) and the UMKC Chancellor’s Concerto Competition (Finalist) as well as performing as a soloist with the Medical Arts Symphony and Midwest Chamber Ensemble. Nationally, Nathan has attended multiple music festivals including the Kent/Blossom Music Festival, the Philadelphia International Music Festival, and the Heartland Chamber Music Festival Scholars program. Locally, Nathan substitutes with the Kansas City Symphony, served on the faculty of Heartland Chamber Music Junior Festival, and teaches privately at Village Music Academy and Shining Light Music. Nathan holds several degrees from UMKC (Bachelor of Music in Performance - Suma Cum Laude, Master’s Degree in Performance, Artist’s Certificate), all under the tutelage of Professor Benny Kim. For more information about Nathan or to contact him, visit his website at nhviolin.com.

He began undergraduate studies in 2007 at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad with the Hungarian cello professor Imre Kálmán. As a student he participated in numerous competitions and master classes, earning prizes in solo and chamber categories, including first prize in cello at the Festival of Music Schools of Serbia and second prize at the National Competition of Cello in Belgrade in 2003.

In 2010 he won the Academy of Music’s Annual Concerto Competition and performed Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme with the Academy Orchestra in the Novi Sad Concert Hall. He later completed his undergraduate studies in 2012 with the highest marks on his final recital, earned a Master of Music from the Academy of Music in Novi Sad, and received an Artist Diploma from Columbus State University, where he studied with Wendy Warner as a graduate assistant. In 2021 he completed the Doctor of Musical Arts in Cello Performance at the University of North Texas with Nikola Ružević. He won the 2018 University of North Texas Concerto Competition and was selected to perform as soloist with the UNT Concert Orchestra. His orchestral experience includes the Plano Symphony, Irving Symphony, San Angelo Symphony, Orchestra of New Spain, Sinfonia da Camera, Camerata Academica, Lagrange Symphony Orchestra, and Columbus Symphony. He was a member of the UNT Center Piano Trio, received the Hungarian American Coalition’s Dr. Elemér and Éva Kiss Scholarship, and was named the University of North Texas Outstanding Graduate String Student in 2019.

Dr. Csikós has appeared in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and given recent guest artist recitals at Rice University and The University of Texas at Austin. He enjoys both performing and teaching. He served as a Cello Teaching Fellow at the University of North Texas from 2016 to 2019 and coached chamber music at the UNT Summer String Institute. He has taught as Adjunct Cello Professor at Midwestern State University, served as an adjunct at the University of North Texas in 2022, and is currently Adjunct Cello Professor at Collin College.

Cody Williams currently performs with the South Carolina Philharmonic Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestras of Aiken, Charleston, Charlotte, Long Bay, Winston-Salem, the South Carolina Ballet, and the Palmetto Concert Band. While based in Texas, he performed with the orchestras of Abilene, Fort Worth, Texarkana, Garland-Las Colinas- Arlington, Richardson, Wichita Falls, Shreveport, Arkansas, the Denton Bach Society, and more. Cody has earned the Artist Award at the H.E.A.R.T. Awards presented by the Greater Denton Arts Council. He has performed solos accompanied by orchestra and has even appeared as a soloist at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.

His recently published works include “Popular Orchestral Excerpt Etudes For Double Bass,” a collection of nine etudes over two books and 160 pages in collaboration with Jeff Bradetich, and “Making Cents: Intonation Considerations Applied to the Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra (1905) by Serge Koussevitzky” which overcomes double bass specific challenges to intonation.

Cody’s proudest achievement is the family he has built with his wife Regem, and baby Alivia. In his free time, he enjoys their membership at Riverbanks Zoo, walks at local parks and ponds, and participating in swim lessons. He commissioned his bass from Rumano Solano in 2017. It is modeled after Giovanni Battista Rogeri’s 1690s Italian double basses, some of the earliest ever created.