Nicholas Collon

As Principal Conductor of Aurora Orchestra, British conductor Nicholas Collon studied at Clare College, Cambridge and is establishing an enviable reputation as an inspirational interpreter in an exceptionally wide range of music. In addition to his work with Aurora he regularly conducts other ensembles in London and is increasingly heard outside the UK. He was awarded the 2008 Arts Foundation Fellowship for conducting, having been chosen from a list of twenty nominated British conductors.

With Aurora Nicholas has explored a wide variety of repertoire, including the chamber symphonies of John Adams, Schoenberg and Schreker, Birtwistle’s Secret Theatre and Strauss’s Metamorphosen. Together they performed Ligeti's Chamber Concerto to great acclaim at the Aldeburgh Festival and recently returned there with Schoenberg’s Erwartung to open the new Hoffmann Building. He has also appeared with Aurora in the Spitalfields and Barbican Young Genius Festivals, at the BBC Proms as part of the Young Composers’ Competition, and at LSO St Luke’s. Other recent concert work includes concerts with Opera North, the London Sinfonietta and Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg.

Operatic work includes Walton’s The Bear and Stravinsky’s Renard for Mahogany Opera, Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Puccini's La Boheme in Palestine, and his recent debut at Glyndebourne conducting a new opera, The Knight Crew by Julian Phillips.

This season, his engagements included a week’s curatorship at King’s Place featuring music from the Weimar Republic and work with the Britten Sinfonia. Future engagements include a joint project with the London Sinfonietta and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and a premiere with the London Symphony Orchestra under the UBS Soundcapes Pioneers scheme. Further appearances with Aurora Orchestra include concerts at the BBC Proms, LSO St Luke’s, Aldeburgh Festival, Wigmore Hall and King’s Place. With The Opera Group he conducts a new work nationally, The Lion’s Face by Elena Langer.