Nicholas Padmanabhan

Guitarist Nicholas Padmanabhan, age 17, was a winner in the National YoungArts Foundation competition in both 2018 and 2017. He appeared in 2018 as a soloist on National Public Radio’s classical-music program “From The Top.”

Nicholas was the first-place winner in the 2018 Mission College Young Artist Concerto Competition, the Sierra Nevada Guitar Competition in both 2016 and 2014, and the 2016 California statewide guitar competition of the American String Teachers Association. He was runner-up in the 2017 Mondavi Center Young Artists Competition, where he was also awarded the Bouchaine Young Artists Prize for Festival Napa Valley.

Selected by audition, Nicholas has performed solo in the Junior Bach Festival for seven consecutive years since 2012. He has opened as a soloist for Pepe Romero at San Francisco Performances and for David Leisner at the South Bay Guitar Society. Nicholas has performed solo at the Sacramento Guitar Society, at the University of Hawaii Maui College, and at the Bear Valley Music Festival in Bear Valley, Calif. He regularly performs as a volunteer at a local assisted-living center.

Nicholas is a student of Scott Cmiel at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Pre-College Division. His first teacher was Jon Mendle. Outside the guitar, Nicholas attends high school in Palo Alto, Calif. He tutors math and science at his school and enjoys physics and chemistry. Nicholas plays a guitar built by Glenn Canin in 2013.