This week’s #RAArtistInFocus is conductor Nicholas Kok.
Having studied at New College, Oxford and the Royal College of Music, Nicholas is an extremely versatile conductor and musician. In the concert hall, opera house and radio he has conducted numerous British and World-wide premieres. For ten years Nicholas was Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of Sinfonia Viva, for whom he is now Principle Guest Conductor and has frequently worked and recorded with the BBC Singers, celebrating his 25th anniversary with the ensemble in 2023.
As an experienced director of Early Music, #RAArtistInFocus Nicholas Kok has directed many productions across the globe including Gluck’s Orphee and Iphigenie in Aulide at Staatstehater Stuttgart, for which Nicholas was praised for his ability to ‘generate a consistently sensitively inspired sound with the Stuttgart State Orchestra’ and L’incoronazione di Poppea at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
Other notable engagements include Orfeo and Il Ritorno d’Ulisse for English National Opera, Agrippina for Teatro Sao Carlos Lisbon and Semele for Oper Koeln.
#RAArtistInFocus Nicholas Kok is also in demand as a director of contemporary music. He toured and recorded extensively with the new music ensemble Psappha and has worked with groups such as the London Sinfonietta and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. He made his debut with Opera North conducting Simon Holt’s The Nightingale’s to Blame at Huddersfield Festival, where he also conducted the British premiere of Hindenburg, the first part of a major work by Steve Reich.
In 2016 Nicholas directed the production of Mark Simpson’s Pleasure with the ensemble Psappha who ‘played with panache’ and were in ‘brilliant form’ under his musical leadership.
#RAArtistInFocus Nicholas Kok made his opera debut at the Stuttgart Staatsoper conducting Purcell’s King Arthur, returning for the Gluck cycle, Hänsel and Gretel, L’italiana in Algieri and, recently, Cabaret. Recent productions include Xerxes with Theatre Magdeburg which was described as “a thorough success…with the experienced Baroque specialist Nicholas Kok … at the helm.”
Productions at Opera North include Stravinsky’s Les Noce, Purcell Dido and Aeneas and their production of Silent Night, which tells the story of the 1914 Christmas truce. The Guardian said of the performance “an overwhelming emotive experience … conductor Nicholas Kok commands an impressive range of colours.”
As well as specialising in opera, Nicholas Kok, #RAArtistInFocus is also a revered choral conductor. Recent performances include those with the Danish Radio Choir and in 2023 he celebrated 25 years association with the BBC Singers. Notable projects with the ensemble include the recording and performance of Birtwistle’s Moth Requiem, works by Robert Saxton and the UK premiere of Nico Muhly’s Spiral Mass with organist James McVinnie.
