B I O G R A P H Y


Photo: Jonathan Hughes
Linda Nicholson is one of the foremost keyboard players specialising in the performance of baroque, classical and early romantic music on instruments of the period. After studying at London University (B.Mus.) and the Royal College of Music (piano with Kendall Taylor, harpsichord with Ruth Dyson) she won the first two international competitions held for the fortepiano, namely the Concours International du Pianoforte in Paris and the Festival of Flanders Competition in Bruges. Since then she has gained an international reputation, performing in major festivals and concert series throughout Europe and the Far East. Her broad repertoire encompasses solo works, chamber music and concertos.

Linda is able to offer an unmatched combination of musical experience and historical knowledge of keyboard instruments. She has been fortunate in being in a position to create, together with her husband, one of the major European collections of keyboard instruments ranging from the late sixteenth to the early nineteenth centuries. Direct contact with original instruments by the best makers and in fine playing order has given Linda a unique insight into the particular characteristics and technical demands of each one: her performances are regularly praised not only for their musical integrity but for the beauty and variety of sounds which she is able to conjure out of the keyboard, whether it be harpsichord, clavichord or fortepiano. She uses these instruments, normally only accessible in museum collections, for concerts and recordings, so giving listeners the opportunity of experiencing directly the sound worlds of the great baroque and classical composers.



P E R F O R M A N C E S

Solo recitals
In her career Linda has performed as soloist in numerous festivals, museums, musical instrument collections and concert halls. Her programmes are tailored to suit particular instruments, or themes, or simply to focus on the rich repertoire of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Always keen to expand her horizons, she is also returning to a particular love, the music of Brahms, and future recitals will feature his late piano pieces.

Recent/ forthcoming appearances:
The Cobbe Collection, Hatchlands
Finchcocks Musical Museum
Art Workers' Guild for the British Clavichord Society
Newbury Festival
MA Festival Bruges
Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht
Konservatorium Wien
Mozart Fest Würzburg
Palais Esterhazy Liebhaber Konzerte

Concertos:
Linda has performed many of the Mozart concertos with outstanding period orchestras, for example Les Arts Florissants, The Academy of Ancient Music, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the Capella Coloniensis. With the latter she made three CDs of Mozart concertos in a co-production between Westdeutscher Rundfunk and Capriccio.

Chamber Music


Photo: Jonathan Hughes
Duo
Linda has enjoyed a longstanding musical partnership with the distinguished violinist Hiro Kurosaki, leader of Les Arts Florissants and other notable baroque ensembles. They have toured extensively together, concentrating on the sonatas of Mozart and Beethoven, but illuminating these with works by lesser known contemporaries such as Benda, Schobert and Vorisek.

Together they recorded the complete Mozart violin sonatas in a co-production between Westdeutscher Rundfunk and Erato: this set of four CDs won the Japanese Academy Award and was the highest selling classical recording in Japan in the year it was released. They recorded all of the sonatas of Beethoven in just one year, 2008-9, for Westdeutscher Rundfunk and ACCENT, the first recording made using original instruments rather than copies. These CDs were released in 2009-10, attracting this comment from Early Music Review: "This dream team. Individually outstanding, truly wonderful in combination".

Recent/ forthcoming appearances:
Musikverein, Wien
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien
Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssoucis
Robert Schumann Haus Zwickau
Musik Meran
Oji Hall, Tokyo
Hakuju Hall, Tokyo
Nishinomya Hall,Tokyo
La Caixa, Barcelona
Auditorio de la Feria de Muestras de Valladolid
St. George's, Bristol
Tage alter Musik Herne for Westdeutscher Rundfunk



Photo: Chris Mikame
Trio
Linda is a founder member of The London Fortepiano Trio. The Trio was originally formed in 1981 with Monica Huggett (violin) and Timothy Mason (violoncello). They were the first to record the Mozart Piano Trios on authentic instruments for Hyperion, a recording that set the benchmark for performances of these works. The current string players are Hiro Kurosaki (violin) and Martin Fritz (violoncello).

Recent appearances:
Brühler Schlosskonzerte
Beethovenfest Bonn
Styriarte, Graz
St. George's, Bristol
Rencontres Harmoniques Lausanne



In addition to her performing activities Linda teaches privately and frequently gives masterclasses, for example in Warsaw as part of the Early Music Festival in Wilanow and at the Konservatorium in Vienna. She has frequently been a juror for the fortepiano competition at the MA Festival in Bruges.