Nicholas Collon (born 7 February 1983 in London) is a British conductor.

Biography

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player, organist and pianist by training, Collon played viola in the

National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (NYO-GB) is the national youth orchestra of the United Kingdom, consisting of 164 members of ages 13 to 19 years. Their mission is to "give thrilling experiences of orchestral music to teenage musici ...

(NYOGB). He studied at Eton and was an organ scholar at

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refound ...

. One of his conducting mentors was Sir Colin Davis, and Collon has served as an assistant conductor to Sir

Mark Elder Sir Mark Philip Elder (born 2 June 1947) is a British conductor. He is currently music director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England. Life and career Elder was born in Hexham, Northumberland, the son of a dentist. He played the ba ...

. In 2004, Collon,

Robin Ticciati Robin Ticciati (born 16 April 1983, in London) is a British conductor of Italian ancestry. Biography Ticciati's paternal grandfather, Niso Ticciati, was a composer, arranger, cellist, and keyboardist. His father is a barrister, and his mother ...

and fellow NYOGB musicians founded the Aurora Orchestra, with Collon as its artistic director. He was awarded the 2008 Arts Foundation Fellowship for conducting, from a list of twenty nominated British conductors. For the 2011–2012 season, Collon was Assistant Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In April 2007, Collon conducted Mozart's ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a '' Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that in ...

'', directed by

Samuel West Samuel Alexander Joseph West (born 19 June 1966) is an English actor, narrator and theatre director. He has directed on stage and radio, and worked as an actor across theatre, film, television and radio. He often appears as reciter with orche ...

, in Ramallah and

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

, the first-ever staged opera production in the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, and returned in 2009 with the same team for performances of ''

La bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '' quadri'', '' tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giusep ...

''. His

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...

conducting debut was in September 2012. In June 2013, he conducted the British stage premiere of Jonathan Harvey's opera '' Wagner Dream'' for

Welsh National Opera Welsh National Opera (WNO) ( cy, Opera Cenedlaethol Cymru) is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales; it gave its first performances in 1946. It began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its ...

. In June 2015, the

Residentie Orchestra Het Residentie Orkest (literal translation, ''The Residence Orchestra''; known also in English as ''Residentie Orkest The Hague'') is a Dutch orchestra based in The Hague. The orchestra is currently resident at the Amare performing arts centre in T ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

announced the appointment of Collon as its co-principal conductor, effective 1 August 2016, for a minimum term of three years, with an estimate of 6 weeks of appearances per season. In June 2017, the Residentie Orchestra announced Collon's appointment as the Residentie Orchestra's sole chief conductor and artistic advisor, effective 1 August 2018, with a minimum of 8 weeks of appearances per season. He stood down as chief conductor of the Residentie Orchestra at the close of the 2020–2021 season. In 2017, Collon first guest-conducted the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (FRSO). In May 2019, the FRSO announced the appointment of Collon as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2021–2022 season. He is the first non-Finnish conductor to be named chief conductor of the FRSO. In February 2023, the FRSO announced the extension of Collon's contract as its chief conductor through the 2027-2028 season. Collon has conducted commercial recordings with the Aurora Orchestra for Warner Classics. Collon is married to flutist Jane Mitchell, creative leader of the Aurora Orchestra.

References

External links

Official website of Nicholas Collon

Aurora Orchestra website page on Collon

International Classical Artists agency page on Collon

Arts Foundation, "Nicholas Collon: Conducting – Winner 2008"

Mike Reynolds, 'Interview: Nicholas Collon'. MusicalCriticism.com webpage, 21 June 2011

'Facing the music: Nicholas Collon'. ''The Guardian'', 6 July 2015

Residentie Orkest, English-language page on Nicholas Collon

CD booklet ''Rutter: Requiem'', lines on 'Nicholas Collon, organist', Naxos Records, 2003

Nicholas Collon discography
at Naxos Records {{DEFAULTSORT:Collon, Nicholas 1983 births Musicians from London Living people People educated at Eton College Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge British male conductors (music) 21st-century British conductors (music) 21st-century British male musicians