The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) recently announced that Nikolai Song will serve as the orchestra's new Principal Flute. Song's appointment is effective immediately, and he appeared in the orchestra's most recent BNY Classics program.

He succeeds Lorna McGhee, who held the role between January 2012 and June 2025.

Born in 2002, Song became one of the youngest students at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where he was admitted at the age of thirteen and where he studied with Philippe Bernold and Florence Souchard-Delépine.

Having received both his undergraduate and master's degrees there, in 2025 Song completed his soloist diploma at the Haute École de Musique de Genève in the class of Jacques Zoon.

A past recipient of the ICMA Discovery Award, Song has appeared as a soloist with the Basque National Orchestra, the Barcelona Baroque Orchestra at the Festival Pablo Casals, the Odense Symphony Orchestra at the Carl Nielsen International Competition, the Orchestre National de Cannes with the Quintette Pentagone, and Ensemble Esperanza.

His orchestral experience includes having been Acting Principal Flute of the Berner Symphonieorchester and Assistant Principal Flute of the Sinfonieorchester Basel, and he is a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra. Song has been guest principal with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, the Zürcher Kammerorchester, and the Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen.

"Nikolai is an extraordinary musician whose artistry, technical brilliance, and musical sensitivity are immediately apparent," said Manfred Honeck, Music Director. "I am thrilled to welcome him to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and look forward to the depth, color, and inspiration he will bring to our sound."