Nicholas Collon Conductor

Concerts with the Salomon Orchestra:

May 2007

Nicholas Collon has recently graduated from Clare College, Cambridge, where he was the Organ Scholar. He is currently Principal Conductor of Aurora Orchestra, and works regularly with a wide range of orchestras and choirs across London.

Whilst at Cambridge, Nicholas conducted a critically acclaimed performance of Bach's St Matthew Passion with the Cambridge University Baroque Ensemble, in which Anthony Rolfe Johnson sang the Evangelist role. He was also Assistant Conductor to the Cambridge University Musical Society and regularly conducted the Clare College Chapel Choir. In July 2004 he was Assistant Conductor to Nicholas Kraemer for a tour of Mozart’s Requiem with Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan.

Conducting engagements in London have included concerts with the Haydn, Tallis and Kensington Chamber Orchestras, and masterclasses with the BBC Singers, with whom he was runner-up in a competition for Assistant Conductor. He has also conducted Aurora Orchestra in concerts in LSO St Luke’s with programmes including Strauss Metamorphosen and Schoenberg Chamber Symphony No. 1, and made his debut at the Aldeburgh Festival with Ligeti’s Chamber Concerto in June ‘06.

Nicholas’ first operatic experience was in October 2004, conducting Britten’s Turn of the Screw with the Cambridge University Opera Society. He was recently Musical Director for six performances of Britten’s Curlew River with Mahogany Opera in London, Norfolk and Suffolk and will be Assistant Conductor for Paul Bunyan with Bregenz Opera in July ’07. He will also conduct the Magic Flute with the Choir & Orchestra of London in Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jeruslaem in April ’07, which will be the first ever staged opera on the West Bank.

His other great love is chamber music, and he performs regularly on the viola. He was a member of the National Youth Orchestra from 1999-2001, and in 2001 co-founded the Capriccio Piano Quartet, with whom he toured Sweden in August 2003. He is also Musical Director of the Nonesuch Orchestra, the Music Makers (choir based in South-West London), and the professional close harmony group, Cappella Artois.

Future conducting engagements include concerts with the Haydn, Hertfordshire Kensington & Tallis Chamber Orchestras, Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra, and a season of concerts at the Royal Academy of Music with Aurora Orchestra.

Please note this biography is current as of the latest appearance with the Salomon Orchestra (see list below the photo).

©Salomon Orchestra

2007

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