Biography

Nick has been actively involved in music making since the age of six, when he joined his local parish choir. Shortly afterwards he began piano lessons and has continued both of these to this day, having held lay clerkships and deputy positions in various English cathedrals, including Chester and Guildford.

Whilst mastering the piano, Nick began learning the violin and trumpet, before making the change to viola and french horn later on. He held the principal french horn seat of the Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Orchestra for three years prior to studying at the University of York, where he continued his piano studies with Sarah Beth Briggs.

Whilst at York, Nick pursued many lines of interest, most proudly of which he was the Director of the University’s musical theatre ensemble, Vocal Point. This afforded him the chance to explore a wide variety of different musicals, particularly highlighting some of the lesser known off-Broadway and off-West End material. The ensemble flourished under his leadership and continues to be a well-established feature of the University’s music scene. Concurrently, Nick was in high demand as an accompanist, performing such works as Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben, Elgar’s English lieder, and many Benjamin Britten arrangements.

Nick’s musical theatre experience ranges from french horn in Jekyll and Hyde, to viola for a Gilbert and Sullivan society, to wielding the baton for Into the Woods with the University of York’s musical theatre society. It was this experience, and the critical acclaim with which the production was met, that propelled Nick into believing this was a career that could suit him well. Since university, and whilst holding a full-time teaching post at one of the country’s leading independent schools, Nick has been Musical Director for Return to the Forbidden Planet, as well as two sell-out cabarets as part of the Guildford Fringe Festival.

Nick hopes to continue building on his experiences, and is excited at the prospect of studying at one of the world’s most prestigious conservatoires.

Musicians’ Company Award: Music Direction in Music Theatre Award 2017

Page Updated: 2017