Nico's Adams Gear
In 2017, Nico was awarded a prize at the International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum University Salzburg and made his debut at the Salzburg Festival in the same year.
Since 2019, he has been a member of The Wave Quartet, a marimba ensemble founded by Bogdan Bacanu in 2008. With this ensemble, he can be heard on the Sony Classical album Carmen. Concerts have taken him to prestigious venues such as the Golden Hall of the Wiener Musikverein, the Philharmonie Luxembourg, the Athenäum in Bucharest, the Musikverein Graz and the Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg, as well as to festivals such as the Heidelberger Frühling and the Grafenegg Festival, where he performed with the Tonkünstler Orchestra under Yutaka Sado. A highlight of the 2024 / 25 season was a concert at the Kölner Philharmonie, where The Wave Quartet performed Bach’s Concerto in C major (BWV 1061), arranged for four marimbas, together with the Academy of Ancient Music.
Nico is also a founding member of Motus Percussion, the ensemble initiated by Christoph Sietzen in 2021. With Motus, he has appeared at the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Brucknerhaus Linz and Wien Modern, where they gave the world premiere of a work by Georg Friedrich Haas, broadcast by Austrian Radio Ö1. In summer 2024, the ensemble performed Gérard Grisey’s Le Noir de l’Étoile at the Salzburger Festspiele.
In addition to his chamber music work, Nico Gerstmayer is in demand as a soloist and orchestral guest. He has performed with orchestras such as the Romanian National Orchestra, with which he toured Europe as principal timpanist under the direction of Christian Mandeal, and has appeared as a soloist with orchestras including the Munich Chamber Orchestra. He has taken part in international festivals such as PercuFest in Valencia and Murten Classics in Switzerland.
Since 2022, he has also held the position of timpanist and percussionist with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz. Nico Gerstmayer performs on instruments made by the Dutch manufacturer Adams Musical Instruments.