Nicolas Corti studied viola at the Zurich Conservatory with his father Ottavio Corti. He then underwent intensive training with Emanuel Vardi in Manhattan, New York (former principal violist under Toscanini in the NBC orchestra).
In 1976, he joined the Tonhalle Orchestra and Zurich Opera House and was a member of the Collegium Musicum Zurich under the direction of Paul Sacher for 15 years.
In 1982, he founded the Amati Quartet, with which he gave countless international concerts until 2010 and produced some thirty CDs, some of which have won awards.
From 1996 to 2023, he was professor of viola and chamber music at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and, from 2005 to 2021, he was principal violist with the Musikkollegium Winterthur.
Chamber music and the fusion of classical and popular music are his passions, as evidenced, for example, by his New Year’s concerts in his adopted region of Toggenburg (with Nadja Räss, Töbi Tobler, Claudia Muff and Wolfgang Sieber, among others).
He plays in various ensembles: guitar duo (with Han Jonkers, CD production featuring Spanish music and Piazzolla), piano duo (with See Siang Wong, Edith Fischer and Michiko Tsuda, among others), string trio (with Noëmi Schindler and Christophe Roy, at the Cluny, Blonay and Alvaneu music festivals, among others) and duo with Franziskus Abgottspon (text and music). Blonay and Alvaneu) and a duo with Franziskus Abgottspon (text and music).