Front Stand Studio

A YEAR OF INTENSIVE WORK WITH

BSO CONCERTMASTER NATHAN COLE

FOR VIOLINISTS AND VIOLISTS ON THE PATH TO TITLED POSITIONS.

You can’t win one of these jobs without first seeing yourself in the position, and sometimes that’s the hardest change to make.

Now taking applications

WHO IS THIS FOR

You’re already playing at a high level. Maybe you have an orchestra job, but you’re wanting more. Maybe you’ve built a career in solo and chamber work, and leading a larger group feels like the next thing. Maybe you’ve already won a titled position and you’re not entirely sure you’re going to be able to keep it.

Whatever the situation, something has shifted. The front stand is where your mind keeps going, and you’re trying to figure out how to get there…or how to stay there.

The problem is that at this level, the gap between where you are and where you want to be is often too subtle to see for yourself. It’s everything around what’s on the page – how you lead, how you’re perceived, how you function as a colleague, how you perform under the specific pressure of a titled audition.

These aren’t things that come up in a single lesson with someone who doesn’t know you well. And because you’re already seen as someone who has it together, it’s hard to find the kind of sustained, honest guidance that would actually move the needle.

I want to help you with exactly that. That’s why I designed Front Stand Studio.

WHY I BUILT THIS

When I started taking auditions, I just wanted a job. A good one, but a job. It was only after a few years on the stage that I realized I wanted something more – the added responsibility, and the rewards, of a leadership position.

And then I ran into a problem I hadn’t expected. My former teachers weren’t orchestral players, so that arena wasn’t really their territory. My colleagues in the orchestra – well, would they take offense if I was openly trying to move up? I did find a few sympathetic players in top spots who were willing to hear me play. But their advice often conflicted, and there was no chance for follow-up work.

During all the years I was in a section and not sitting where I wanted to be – or sitting second chair instead of concertmaster – I had all kinds of ideas about why it hadn’t happened for me yet. Some of those ideas helped me take real steps in my playing and performing, and others, I later realized, didn’t really lead anywhere.

I’ve now completed my first full year as Concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I’ve watched players win titled positions and thrive, and I’ve watched others win those same positions and not survive them – and in most cases, I could see why before it happened. The difference usually wasn’t the playing. It was everything around it.

There was no place designed for exactly this work. So I built one.

HERE’S WHAT WE’LL COVER

Each month we’ll meet as a studio for 90 minutes to two hours. Every session is structured around three foundational elements: a key concertmaster solo or concerto, a focus area significant to these kinds of auditions, and dedicated time where you’re playing and getting feedback directly from me.

Here are some of the topics we’ll focus on:

Instrument selection and setup (your instrument needs to speak like a soloist's, and how you set it up is a big part of how you're heard and perceived)
Fingering strategies for solos and concertos (how to think like a concertmaster when you're preparing your excerpts and solo repertoire)
The special considerations when preparing for title chair auditions, including what committee discussions actually look like
Communicating with your section and with other principals
Working with music directors and guest conductors
Your rehearsal responsibilities and what's expected of you...on and off the stage
Building awareness and reading the room

And most importantly, mindset in performance as a leader.

WHAT'S INCLUDED

Four 60-minute private lessons with me, one per quarter
12 monthly private studio classes with the full cohort (90 minutes to 2 hours)
Full access to Daily Virtuoso, my membership program covering technique and repertoire through a 12-month arc
Access to my Spring Audition Intensive, which covers general audition strategy separate from the title-specific work we do in the studio
My marked parts for both section and concertmaster excerpts
Quarterly project, time management, and mindset coaching

A multi-day capstone event in Boston, May 2027, Hosted by Carriage House Violins, including:
an in-person master class with me
an exclusive look at fine instruments and bows
a session with the in-house luthier
a filmed recital to close out the year
experiences we're still designing that are going to be worth the trip

Ten spots.

$10,000 for the year.

Payment plan available.

THIS IS FOR YOU IF...

You're already playing at a competitively high level, but you can't seem to crack the code of landing the higher-tiered positions
You're ready to do the kind of deep, sustained work that real transformation requires? Not just polish a few things before your next audition
You know the amount of commitment that kind of change requires

THIS IS NOT FOR YOU IF...

HERE'S WHAT THEY SAY

Working with Nathan has helped me rise to each performance with a greater level of achievement and less stress.

I can honestly say that working with Nathan and his courses gave me the mindset to learn music quickly and perform in a way I could be proud of. Thanks to Nathan, I am continuing to perform better and with more confidence.

Margie Karp

Senior Lecturer at University of Kentucky, Assistant Concertmaster of the Lexington Philharmonic

I don’t think I’d be exaggerating to say he changed my life.

He changed the way that I look at my own practice and the way I look at my own playing. He gave me some new tools for changing my technique. Nathan is always coming up with fresh ideas, and that inspires me to work hard and try to look at my own playing through fresh eyes.

Katie Chilmaid

Queensland Symphony Orchestra

Nathan helped me focus on the skills I needed to improve the most

Before, I’d spend hours practicing but it wasn’t targeted enough to see the kind of improvements that I needed. Nathan helped me focus on the skills I needed to improve the most. He has a special ability to pinpoint and distill the most essential information incredibly clearly.

James McFadden-Talbot

Louisville Orchestra

A YEAR FROM NOW

You’ll be more confident about the impression your playing makes – on committees, on colleagues, on music directors. You’ll know which changes actually move you into that top tier, instead of guessing. And you’ll have spent a year staying musically curious and active, so that when you walk into a titled audition, it feels like a natural extension of how you’ve been playing and leading all year, not a high-stakes exception.

Your playing will change, but by then, something deeper will have changed too: You’ll have stopped waiting to be invited to the front stand and started operating like someone who already belongs there.

That’s what this year is.

Ten spots.
$10,000 for the year.

Payment plan available.