Nikolas Caoile is Music Director and Conductor of the Wenatchee Valley Symphony Orchestra and Director of Orchestral Activities at Central Washington University. At CWU, he has grown the orchestras into one of the preeminent collegiate orchestra programs of the Northwest. The CWU Symphony Orchestra has consistently won invitations to perform at the Washington Music Educators Association Conferences. A passionate believer in music education for all ages, Caoile has conducted numerous educational and community engagement concerts. In October 2009, Caoile made his New York City debut conducting the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas in collaboration with Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company. Last year, Caoile has made several guest conducting appearances including the Alaska All-State Orchestra in November 2010 and the Rainier Symphony Orchestra in February 2011. Caoile continues to be a featured presenter as part of the Seattle Symphony Talk Music series. Since 2010, Caoile has collaborated with several popular rock groups including Queensrÿche, John Popper, Heart, Yes, and Tracy Bonham as the music Director for the inaugural concert for Synergia Northwest - an annual event benefiting music education in Washington State. Future engagements include appearances with the Yakima Symphony Orchestra (December 2011), the Indiana All-State Symphony Orchestra (January 2012), and the Salem Chamber Orchestra (March 2012). Caoile is a popular guest conductor and clinician with youth orchestras, collegiate ensembles, and high school honor orchestras. He has appeared with Olympia Symphony Orchestra, Gig Harbor Symphony, Seattle Youth Symphony, and the Portland Youth Philharmonic. Also an accomplished pianist, Caoile is a frequent recitalist performing throughout Washington State and the Northwest. He has performed with the Third Angle New Music Ensemble. He is also a faculty member of the Kairos Chamber Music Lyceum, Chamber Music Madness, and the Icicle Creek Center for the Arts Summer Symphony. Caoile also thrives in the opera repertoire. He has served on the music staff of the Aspen Opera Theater Center as a Coach Accompanist Fellow preparing many operas including: Rigoletto, The Cunning Little Vixen, Die Entführung auf dem Serail, The Turn of the Screw, and Giasone. He has served as an accompanist with the Seattle Opera assisting in productions of Eugene Onegin and Norma and has worked with the Seattle Opera Young Artists on productions of Gianni schicchi and Eugene Onegin, He was a coach pianist and chorus master for the Bel Canto Vocal Institute in Portland, Oregon where he prepared L'elisir d'amore and Fidelio. He was harpsichordist in performances of L'incoronazione di Poppea, Giasone, and Calisto. Caoile has also served as conductor many main-stage productions. He has led performances of Così fan Tutte, Il Matrimonio Segretto, Gianni Schicchi, The Bartered Bride, and Dido and Aeneas. He assisted Martin Katz in the University of Michigan production of Hänsel and Gretel. His teachers include Martin Katz, Phil Kelsey, David McDade, and Kenneth Merrill.
Nikolas Caoile is a native of Portland, OR and now resides in Ellensburg, WA with his wife, mezzo-soprano, Melissa Schiel and their beautiful son, Kieran.
