Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra & Conservatorium van Amsterdam
(retired)
Nick Woud studied Timpani and Percussion at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Jan Labordus and Jan Pustjens, both members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
From the age of 18, he performed as a timpanist and percussionist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and all the major Dutch orchestras. At the age of 22, he joined the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, initially as a percussionist and, in 1984, was appointed Principal Timpanist.
In May 2002, Nick won the audition for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra by unanimous decision and became its Principal Timpanist. After a distinguished 20-year career with the orchestra, he retired in July 2022. Since then, he has continued to perform internationally as a freelance guest timpanist.
Alongside his performing career, Nick has been deeply committed to teaching. He taught at the conservatories of Hilversum and Utrecht and, for the past 35 years, served as Senior Timpani Tutor in the Percussion Department of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. He is the author of three timpani method books, and has also composed numerous works for orchestra, brass ensembles, timpani and percussion.
Nick’s fascination with the technical development of the timpani led to a long-standing collaboration with Adams Musical Instruments, where he has served as an advisor since 1977.
For many years, Nick coached the percussion sections of the Dutch National Youth Orchestra (NJO), the NJO Summer Academy, the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO), and JONDE (Spanish National Youth Orchestra).
Following his retirement from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, he has appeared as guest timpanist with numerous leading orchestras, including the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Opera Australia Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Kammerorchester Basel, and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.
Nick has presented masterclasses at the International Timpani Institute (Houston, USA), Ueberschlag (Germany), the Conservatorio di Parma (Italy), Katowice (Poland), Luxembourg, Ljubljana (Slovenia), Paris and Toulouse (France), Brisbane (Australia), Catania and Padua (Italy), Musicarium Zaragoza (Spain), Taipei (Taiwan), and Athens (Greece).