Benjamin Nicholas

Benjamin Nicholas has worked with numerous choirs and orchestras, most recently conducting the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Singers, The Trondheim Soloists and The Holst Singers in works such as Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony, Holst’s Savitri and Duruflé’s Requiem. This season he makes his debuts with the CBSO and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Benjamin is Director of Music of Merton College, Oxford, where his work with the choir has been acclaimed through recordings on the Delphian label and broadcasts on the BBC, the most recent of which was a broadcast on Radio 3 from St Peter’s Basilica, The Vatican. He has directed the choir on tour in the USA, Sweden, Italy and France, and in world premieres of music by Birtwistle, Chilcott, Dove, Jackson, MacMillan, Tabakova and Weir. Benjamin was a chorister at Norwich Cathedral before holding organ scholarships at Chichester Cathedral, Lincoln College, Oxford and St Paul’s Cathedral. At the age of twenty-three he became Director of the choir of men and boys at Tewkesbury Abbey where he remained until 2012. From 2011 -2016 he served the Edington Music Festival, firstly as conductor of the Schola and then as Festival Director. As an organist, he has appeared with The Tallis Scholars, and his most recent recording, of Elgar’s organ works, was described by The Sunday Times as ‘a musical achievement…captivating”.