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“In the hands of Nina Assimakopoulos, the flute is a kite, a nymph, a bolt of lightning.”
Rochester City Paper
Press Quotes
Reviews related to artistic works, performances, and recordings
Selected Reviews
“Attention flute world: here is Nina Assimakopoulos, an artistic force to be reckoned with!”
— American Record Guide
“In the hands of Nina Assimakopoulos, the flute is a kite, a nymph, a bolt of lightning.”
— Rochester City Paper
“Assimakopoulos has not just perfect technique and total breath control but supreme intelligent, elegant phrasing; broad tone color; lyricism; a full range of dynamic expression; and above all STYLE that paints the differences from Bach to Bartok…”
— Gil French, American Record Guide
“Assimakopoulos guided this sonic world tour with genuine musicianship, excellent technique…and uncommon projection and richness of tone in the flute’s lowest register….In this performance the only jury was the audience, and they showered Assimakopoulos with high marks in the form of hearty applause and a lengthy standing ovation.”
— New York Concert Review, Carnegie Hall Debut
“Assimakopoulos produces a stunning array of timbres…her intensity is captivating and her suspenseful rubato creates an effective and personal performance…Assimakopoulos demonstrates her versatility as a player, drawing a wide array of effects from her instrument to create impressive performances across multiple genres of solo flute music.”
— CutCommon Magazine
“Assimakopoulos has built a reputation for technical mastery, expressive flair and imaginative repertoire choices.”
— The Flute Journal
“Assimakopoulos has remarkable technique, and a lovely core tone that she is able to manipulate to great effect in this dazzling array of novel, even exotic, works.”
— Fanfare Magazine
“Assimakopoulos has a dramatic sense of pacing…from beginning to end she changes styles freely and remains in control of what she is doing musically.”
— American Record Guide, (CD, Flute Impressions)
“A mature and brilliant artist who has a sovereign and superior command of her instrument.”
— Paul Meisen, Flutist
“A superb musician who plays with musical understanding, brilliant technique, and great intellect.”
— Luba Edlina, pianist, Borodin Trio
“It is often difficult to maintain the interest of an audience with a recital of solo works for monophonic instrument. Assimakopoulos overcomes that hurdle by her savvy repertoire selections, collected over years of seeking outstanding new works for her instrument, and by the intensity and beauty of her playing. She has remarkable technique, and a lovely core tone that she is able to manipulate to great effect in this dazzling array of novel, even exotic, works.”
— Fanfare Magazine
“Impeccable intonation and superbly fluid flute playing…if one adds to those qualities her radiant presence on stage, it is not difficult to understand why her St. Louis recital was a sensational success.”
— Minoo Mehta, President Artist Presentation Society
Biographies
Artistic, Flute and Teaching Biographies
Artist Biography
Nina Assimakopoulos is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning flutist, interdisciplinary performing artist, and experimental music composer. Her work includes traditional and contemporary flute performance, eco-performance concerts, immersive sound environments created from environmental field recordings, and solo recordings and album releases shaped by cultural perspectives, environmental themes, oral storytelling, mythology, and diverse wisdom traditions. In recent years, her creative practice has expanded into filmmaking, where she develops sound-driven cinema centered on listening, landscape, and storytelling.
Her first publicly released film, Lucid Dreams: The Lifecycle of an Artist, received 19 international jury selections and multiple festival awards, including Best Art Film (Cine Paris Film Festival, 2025), Best Woman Filmmaker (Stockholm City Film Festival, 2024), and Best Experimental Film (Picasso International Film Festival, 2025).
She is internationally regarded as a leading innovator in contemporary flute performance and is distinguished for expanding the sonic language and performance practices of the instrument. Her work includes more than 125 new music commissions and world premiere performances, over 800 national and international solo concerts, workshops, and masterclasses, and the release of nine solo albums.
Her recordings have received international recognition, including the 2023 Global Music Awards ® Silver Medal Outstanding Achievement Award and the Music and Stars Awards ® Best Instrumentalist Silver Medal Award for Bending Light: Sonic Prisms for Solo Flute (AMP Recordings, 2023), as well as the 2024 World Flute Society Award for Best Solo Native American Recording for Sonic Bloom: Breath • Branch • Song (2024).
Assimakopoulos’s site-specific sonic installations, multimedia performances, and community workshops invite participants to deepen awareness of and connection to their sonic environments and demonstrate the role artists can play in environmental and cultural expression. Her compositions and sound art experiences often incorporate global flutes, instruments she crafts from organic materials, visual media, choreography, and layered field recordings to engage audiences with themes of environment, culture, and nature.
A recent example of this work is her multimedia tone poem The Legend of SkyWoman (26 minutes; 2023), a musical homage to medicine traditions from North, Central, and South America. The work incorporates a fixed-media, multi-layered soundscape created from West Virginia environmental field recordings, instruments made from regional organic materials, and global flutes and percussion, and received the 2023 Global Music Awards ® Bronze Medal in Experimental Music.
Assimakopoulos was honored in 2024 with the Benedum Distinguished Scholars Award at West Virginia University and has received international grants and recognition from organizations including the Aaron Copland Fund, the Fulbright Commission, the Puffin Foundation and the National Society of Arts and Letters. She tours extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America as a performing artist and masterclass presenter.
She is Professor of Flute at the College of Creative Arts and Media at West Virginia University and an avid white-water kayaker with a deep commitment to forest and river conservancy
Flutist Biography
Internationally acclaimed flutist Nina Assimakopoulos is regarded as a leading voice in flute performance whose work spans traditional concert repertoire and contemporary innovation. An award-winning performing artist, she is distinguished for expanding the sonic and performance language of the instrument through both traditional and exploratory forms of performance. Her projects combine flute music with movement, multimedia arts, and, more recently, eco-performance practices that integrate Indigenous-style world flutes made from repurposed wood and instruments crafted from organic Appalachian materials with narration and storytelling.
Her career includes more than 125 new music commissions and world premiere performances, the release of nine solo albums, and over 800 national and international solo concerts, workshops, and masterclasses.
Her recordings have received international recognition, including the 2023 Global Music® Silver Medal for Outstanding Achievement (Instrumentalist) and the Music and Stars Awards® Silver Medal for Best Instrumentalist across all genres (Bending Light: Sonic Prisms for Solo Flute, AMP Recordings, 2023), the 2024 World Flute Society Award for Best Solo Native American Recording, and selection into the first round of the Grammy® nominations for Best Classical Instrumental Solo (Vāyu: Multi-Cultural Flute Solos from the Twenty-First Century, AMP Recordings, 2015).
Assimakopoulos has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America as a performing artist and masterclass presenter. Her solo recital appearances span international music festivals and major venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, the Alden Theatre Rising Stars Concert Series, the Dame Myra Hess Radio Broadcast Concert Series, and the Live from Hochstein Radio Broadcast Series.
She has also performed as an orchestral musician with ensembles including the Munich City Opera, the Bavarian Academy Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, among others.
She is the recipient of numerous international grants and awards from organizations including the Aaron Copland Fund, the Fulbright Commission, the National Society of Arts and Letters, the Puffin Foundation, NY Women Composers, and the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Foundation. She was honored in 2024 with the West Virginia University Benedum Distinguished Scholars Award.
Assimakopoulos is Professor of Flute at West Virginia University’s College of Creative Arts and Media, where she enjoys working with artists across disciplines and mentoring the next generation of flutists and educators.
She studied with renowned solo and orchestral musicians Peter Lloyd at the Indiana University School of Music and Paul Meisen at the Academy for Music and Theater in Munich, Germany.
Beyond her professional life, she is an avid white-water kayaker with a deep passion for Appalachian river and forest conservancy.
Teaching Biography
Nina Assimakopoulos
Professor of Flute, West Virginia University
Professor Nina Assimakopoulos has guided the next generation of flutists, music educators, and arts entrepreneurs for more than 25 years as a flute professor, career mentor, and masterclass presenter. She approaches her teaching with a supportive and joyous spirit, informed by her work as an acclaimed flutist in both traditional and contemporary performance and as an interdisciplinary artist whose work focuses on connecting people, place, and culture through musical storytelling.
Professor Assimakopoulos’ studio at West Virginia University is known for vibrant pedagogy, interactive teaching styles, and a welcoming environment for students pursuing diverse fields of study, including undergraduate and graduate degrees in flute performance, music education, music therapy, music business and industry, and multidisciplinary studies. Her students have won prizes in more than 200 international competitions, as well as prestigious research awards and grants, including the Fulbright Award.
For the past 18 years, her studio has maintained a 100% job placement rate for graduating music education majors. Her students have earned tenure-track teaching positions at universities in the United States and internationally, principal flute positions in orchestras around the world, and full assistantships and fellowships for every graduate of her flute studio who has entered master’s or doctoral degree programs in flute performance over the past 19 years.
Drawing on a career that bridges traditional performance, experimental music, and multimedia creation, Professor Assimakopoulos mentors students to imagine expansive artistic futures. At the same time, she provides a strong foundation in classical flute training and prepares students for traditional career paths including orchestral performance, music education, and graduate study. By bringing these interdisciplinary practices into the studio, she encourages students to develop entrepreneurial portfolio careers that combine teaching, performance, collaboration, and creative work across music, media, and emerging artistic forms, including building private studios, developing online teaching platforms, and creating independent artistic projects.
Professor Assimakopoulos is widely recognized as a leading voice in traditional and contemporary flute performance, having commissioned and premiered over 125 works for the Western concert flute and recorded nine solo albums, many of them award-winning. She has appeared in solo recitals at international music festivals and major concert venues around the world and has toured extensively as a performing artist and masterclass presenter, giving over 800 performances and masterclasses throughout her career.
As an orchestral musician, she has performed with ensembles including the Munich City Opera, the Bavarian Radio Academy Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra.
Professor Assimakopoulos studied with Peter Lloyd at the Indiana University School of Music and Paul Meisen at the Academy for Music and Theater in Munich, Germany.
Filmmaker Biography
Press Photos
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Photo credit: Dan Friend
