Conductor | Educator | Music Arranger | Drill Designer

Dr. Nikk Pilato serves as Director of Bands at Northern Kentucky University’s School of the Arts. In this capacity, he conducts the NKU Wind Symphony, supervises student teachers, and teaches various courses in the Music Education curriculum. Additionally, he contributes to the University’s mission through research, service, and scholarly and creative endeavours. Beyond academic pursuits, he maintains an active profile as a guest conductor, adjudicator, clinician, lecturer, music arranger, and drill designer.

​​Nikk founded and serves as executive director of the  Wind Repertory Project, an online database of wind band literature. The project includes detailed information on thousands of works for wind band, such as duration, errata, instrumentation, program notes, study resources, and more. In the 17 years since its inception, the Wind Repertory Project has grown to include nearly 28,000 entries, and has been visited over forty-two million times.

​Nikk earned the Bachelor of Music Education, the Master of Music Education, and a Ph.D. in Conducting and Music Education from the Florida State University College of Music in Tallahassee, Florida. His primary teachers were Richard Clary, James Croft, Patrick Dunnigan, and Cliff Madsen. ​In his free time, Nikk enjoys reading, cooking, poker, and spending time with his partner Amanda and their dog Jaxx.