Where are they now? Nicholas Daniel
We take another look back at the artists for whom Bath Recitals gave them a much needed platform to help them rise successfully to the top of their professions. Today we take a look at oboist and conductor Nicholas Daniel…
Back in March 1986, a young Nicholas Daniel gave one his first recitals at the Pump Room together with pianist Julius Drake.The programme included music by Britten, Schumann & Poulenc.
Not long before, Nicholas had won the BBC Young Music of the Year Competition so he was already familiar to many in the audience.
Acknowledged as one of the world’s great oboe players as well as one of Britain’s best known musicians, Nicholas’s Harmonia Mundi Label recordings have received much acclaim. He has also directed festivals and concert series, notably in Germany and Dartington, as well as being Music Director of the Leicester International Music Festival.
Nicholas continues to work regularly with Julius Drake amongst others and is also regularly involved in many chamber music activities including the award-winning Britten Sinfonia of whom he is a founder member.
Nicholas is a keen concerto soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, performing a huge range of repertoire from Bach to Xenakis and beyond. His recording of concertos by Vaughan Williams and MacMillan was awarded the 2016 BBC Music Magazine Premiere Award.
Following his BBC Proms conducting debut in 2004, he works with many fine ensembles in wide-ranging repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary, and from small groups to opera.
Watch this live 2013 recording of the 3rd movement from Shostakovich’s 5th symphony from Snape Maltings, Aldeburgh with Nicholas Daniel conducting the Triorca Orchestra:
In recognition of his achievements he was honoured in 2012 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with the prestigious Queen’s Medal for Music, and cited as having made ‘an outstanding contribution to the musical life of the nation’.In October 2020 he was awarded an OBE.
Since it was established in 1981, Bath Recitals has staged over 600 concerts and events featuring emerging young professional musicians – many from leading conservatories both from the UK and abroad. Bath Recitals provides an essential platform in the musical world, enabling the best of our future musicians to rise successfully to the top of their professions.
