Born in Sydney, Nicole Hammill attended the Conservatorium High School, and then travelled to the USA on scholarship, attaining three degrees in violin performance, including an MMus with High Distinction from Indiana University and a DMA from Louisiana State University. She subsequently lectured at Southeastern Louisiana and West Virginia Universities before returning to Australia for the violin lectureship at James Cook University in Townsville.
In 1999, she relocated to Brisbane, where she lived for almost 20 years, performing with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra as soloist, Concertmaster and Principal First Violin, and was a sessional lecturer at the Queensland Conservatorium, as well as at QUT and USQ. From late 2018 until mid-2023, she was Strings Coordinator at the Mitchell Conservatorium in Bathurst, during which time she also re-established the Bathurst Chamber Orchestra, performing as Leader and Director. Currently, she resides in Moss Vale in the Southern Highlands and is performing with the Canberra Symphony, as well as in 2024, the Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra.
As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed throughout the USA, eastern Australia and in Malaysia, including ABC-FM Live broadcasts, the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, the QSO Chamber Players, the Southern Cross Soloists and the Bangalow Music Festival.
In demand as an adjudicator for eisteddfodau and competitions, Dr Hammill was an AMEB Strings Examiner in QLD (2001-2021), and now in NSW since 2019, where she was recently appointed to the Examinations Committee. She has published pedagogical articles in music teaching journals and wrote the AMEB Series 8 Violin Handbooks for Level 2. Nicole has also completed graduate study in counselling and psychology.