Interview: Nikki Chooi, Concertmaster Of The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
A Virtuoso At Home In The Queen City
On September 2, 2025 the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra announced that Concertmaster Nikki Chooi (it’s pronounced “chewy”) signed a contract extension to remain with the Orchestra through 2031.
That followed the BPO’s April 8, 2025 announcement that Music Director JoAnn Falletta signed a similar extension to remain through the 2029 Season, at which time she will have served in that position for thirty years.
The Buffalo Philharmonic is in the midst of an extended period of financial and artistic stability that generally runs counter to regional trends. Indeed, three decades ago the BPO nearly shuttered for good.
In our interview published April 22, 2025 Falletta recalled:
1990 to 2000 was a very dark decade for the BPO, and I know much about it from my good friend Maximiano Valdés. There were labor issues and money problems, which led to management instability and rapid turnover in the orchestra. A kind of weariness set in, because this had happened before.
When I came in, a group of BPO supporters had prepared a substantial endowment and were prepared to give the Orchestra another five years. They said if it doesn’t work in these next five years then we know we need to shut it down.
That sounds horrifying to me now, but they were being honest by telling me “we can’t keep doing this. We can’t keep borrowing from the banks who don’t want to lend to us anymore.”
Chooi joined the BPO as Concertmaster in 2019, after the Orchestra had coalesced and begun building a body of recorded work. Following Chooi’s arrival, the BPO underwent a musical maturation. In February 2025 I wrote:
The BPO has developed a distinct orchestral personality, as a whole as well as in its sections. The strings, woodwinds, and brass have formed their own ensemble voices, adding depth and nuance.
The quality of the BPO’s performances are routinely high and currently represent the pinnacle of artistic expression in our region.
On October 17 and 18 the BPO will present its “Nikki Plays Beethoven” program featuring Chooi performing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D. October 24 and 25 also feature Chooi’s violin in its “Beethoven Pastoral” program which includes Buffalo-born Robert Paterson’s “Triple Concerto.”
In our interview, Chooi and I discussed his training, his role as Concertmaster, and the upcoming Beethoven performance.
We spoke on September 18, 2025. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Frank Housh: Tell me about growing up in Victoria (British Columbia).
Nikki Chooi: I was born and raised there, and looking back now, it truly was a beautiful place to grow up. I began playing the violin at the local conservatory, even though my parents weren’t musical at all.
They encouraged me to explore all kinds of activities—sports, art, gymnastics—but I naturally gravitated toward music. I started with the Suzuki Method and worked my way through all ten books.
I’ve always found that approach to be very special because it makes learning feel joyful and intuitive, much like acquiring a new language. My mom, who had never played the violin before, actually learned alongside me as part of the Suzuki program.
She even had her own violin, and it became a wonderful mother-and-child experience that I always looked forward to.
Those early memories are a big part of why I continued playing. After Suzuki, I studied for five years with an exceptional teacher in Victoria who really laid the foundation for a professional path.
Later, I began studying in Calgary while commuting between Victoria and the Mount Royal Conservatory—an incredible environment filled with inspiring guest artists.
