Director - Benjamin Nicholas
Benjamin Nicholas is the Reed Rubin Organist and Director of Music of Merton College, Oxford. He has conducted the Merton College Choir on tours to the USA, Sweden and France, on BBC Radio 3 & 4 and BBC TV, and on recordings for Delphian.
From 2000 until 2012 Benjamin directed the choir of men and boys at Tewkesbury Abbey and was partly responsible for the founding of Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum when the Abbey School closed in 2006. He led the choir on thirteen overseas tours and made a series of recordings on Delphian in addition to discs on Guild, Priory, Regent and Signum. Benjamin Nicholas was Director of Choral Music at Dean Close School from 2005 until 2012. In 2011 he succeeded Andrew Carwood as Director of the Schola Cantorum at the Edington Festival of Music and in 2013 became Festival Director.
Benjamin Nicholas has conducted much of the large-scale choral repertoire including Elgar The Dream of Gerontius, Beethoven Missa Solemnis, Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony, Verdi Requiem and Berlioz Te Deum. Recent concerts include Holst Savitri with Sarah Connolly and the Trondheim Soloists in the Cheltenham Music Festival and Bach Christmas Oratorio with Oxford Philomusica. Benjamin has studied conducting with Denise Ham.
From 2000 until 2012 Benjamin directed the choir of men and boys at Tewkesbury Abbey and was partly responsible for the founding of Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum when the Abbey School closed in 2006. He led the choir on thirteen overseas tours and made a series of recordings on Delphian in addition to discs on Guild, Priory, Regent and Signum. Benjamin Nicholas was Director of Choral Music at Dean Close School from 2005 until 2012. In 2011 he succeeded Andrew Carwood as Director of the Schola Cantorum at the Edington Festival of Music and in 2013 became Festival Director.
Benjamin Nicholas has conducted much of the large-scale choral repertoire including Elgar The Dream of Gerontius, Beethoven Missa Solemnis, Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony, Verdi Requiem and Berlioz Te Deum. Recent concerts include Holst Savitri with Sarah Connolly and the Trondheim Soloists in the Cheltenham Music Festival and Bach Christmas Oratorio with Oxford Philomusica. Benjamin has studied conducting with Denise Ham.
Benjamin Nicholas has commissioned numerous composers including Birtwistle, Chilcott, Dove, Dubra, Esenvalds, Goodall, Ives, Jackson, Joubert, MacMillan, Martin, McDowall, Pott, Skempton, Weir and Wilby. In 2014 he conducted the first performances of Gabriel Jackson's The Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ in Merton College Chapel and Trinity Church, Wall Street, New York.
As an organist, Benjamin has given concerts in the USA and in many cathedrals in the UK. He has played on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4, and on Christmas Day 2010 broadcast live on BBC 1 from Tewkesbury Abbey. In June 2014 he gave one of the opening concerts on the new Dobson organ in Merton College Chapel, an organ he has helped to design. His debut organ solo disc was released on Delphian in 2014.
Benjamin was a chorister in the Choir of Norwich Cathedral, becoming Organ Scholar at Chichester Cathedral in 1994. He studied at Oxford University between 1995 and 1998, where he was Organ Scholar at Lincoln College. On graduating, he became Organ Scholar of St Paul's Cathedral before moving to Tewkesbury in 2000.
As an organist, Benjamin has given concerts in the USA and in many cathedrals in the UK. He has played on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4, and on Christmas Day 2010 broadcast live on BBC 1 from Tewkesbury Abbey. In June 2014 he gave one of the opening concerts on the new Dobson organ in Merton College Chapel, an organ he has helped to design. His debut organ solo disc was released on Delphian in 2014.
Benjamin was a chorister in the Choir of Norwich Cathedral, becoming Organ Scholar at Chichester Cathedral in 1994. He studied at Oxford University between 1995 and 1998, where he was Organ Scholar at Lincoln College. On graduating, he became Organ Scholar of St Paul's Cathedral before moving to Tewkesbury in 2000.