POTSDAM -- Nicholas Hartman of Potsdam, son of Mark and Adrienne and grandson of Walter and Betty Smith, Lisbon, has been awarded the position of fourth horn with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, winning the international audition for the position in February of this year.

Hartman graduated in May of 2012 with a Bachelor of Music degree in performance from Rice University, Houston, Texas, where he attended the prestigious Shepherd School of Music, studying horn with William VerMeulen, Principal Horn of the Houston Symphony Orchestra.

Hartman began his musical study at Potsdam Central School, where he was a 2008 graduate. He studied under Jill Rubio in the Junior High Band program at A.A. Kingston Middle School, then went on to be a member of the Potsdam High School wind ensemble, orchestra, choir, and Canta Sera directed by Theresa Witmer, Jill Savage and Tammara Madeja respectively. Nicholas also studied horn under Mr. Albert Schaberg, Professor Emeritus,

The Crane School of Music; Dr. John Ericson, Associate Professor, Arizona State University; and Mr. Daniel Gress, University of Ottawa.

While in high school he attended several summer programs including the Crane Youth Music Camp (SUNY Potsdam); The New York State School of Orchestra Studies (Saratoga, NY); and the Kennedy Center Summer Music Institute (Washington, DC).

As a college student Hartman performed with l'Orchestra de la Francophonie Canadienne (Montreal, Quebec); The National Repertory Orchestra (Colorado); and The Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra (Lenox, MA).

He can be heard on a live recording of all nine Beethoven Symphonies with l'Orchestra de la Francophonie Canadienne and Jean-Philippe Tremblay conducting.