NICHOLAS COX (clarinet, clarinet classical) »
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ReviewsStephen Johnson - The Independent
"Truly lovely playing." The Gramophone
"Superb playing" Geoffrey Norris - Daily Telegraph
"What became increasingly - and ever more enthrallingly apparent as the recital unfolded was that the clarinettist Nicholas Cox and his pianist Vanessa Latarche not only have catholic tastes but also possess the technical accomplishment, stylistic insight and interpretative discernment...both artists bring to their performance an assured and deeply engrained musicality...Their playing was marked by close rapport and an ideal balance of temperaments, each musician as acute as the other in entering instantly and thoroughly into the composer's individual worlds of sound. An exhilarating evening & a duo to watch." Joe Riley - Liverpool Echo
"The ideal Mozart experience lay in Nicholas Cox's playing of the Clarinet Concerto on the darker-toned basset clarinet. The result was exquisite and as good as anything in the present recording catalogue. Wonderful, mellifluous, apparently effortless playing of the type an audience can dream of, but so rarely gets to such a degree. A combination of perfect intonation and phrasing to make the spine tingle." Hilary Finch - The Times
"A fusion of the art of the entertainer with the skill of th deeply serious musician...Nicholas Cox's imaginative musicianship is revealed in unusually close focussed and widely modulated breath control: it can draw from the clarinet a near percussive tension for Debussy's Premiere Rhapsodie, or create a remarkable resilience of line in Weber's Grand Duo Concertante." Robert Cockcroft - Yorkshire Post
"Any woodwind player who can sing through his instrument as though it represents an extension of his musical personality is clearly one of some consequence. Nicholas Cox can and is." Joe Riley Liverpool Echo
"Phil Principals Nicholas Cox, who simply produces the most sumptuous clarinet sound imaginable, and Alan Pendlebury(bassoon) combined for an enchanting reading of Strauss's Duet Concertino." The Gramophone: November 1996
"Quite why the Bliss Quintet should have received only two recordings in recent years is something of a mystery to me, as the quality of this lovely rhapsodic work is extremely high indeed. The intricately spun melodies of the first movement are here beautifully rendered by Nicholas Cox and the Redcliffe Ensemble and the elegiac slow movement is most movingly delivered too. Alan Rawsthorne's most astringent Clarinet Quartet of 1946 strikes me as very fine and a worthwhile discovery also. Although it displays a clear debt to Viennese serialism its lyrical qualities are exceptionally strong and it is by no means an unapproachable piece. Francis Routh's five movement Clarinet Quintet was composed in 1994, but in a stylistic sense could easily be contemporary with or even earlier than, the Rawsthorne. Nevertheless, it is a pleasant and finely crafted work which here receives a spirited reading from its dedicatee, Nicholas Cox. The recorded sound is very natural indeed." The discography button is inactive.
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Teaching experience
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Biography
"Truly lovely playing by Nicholas Cox" Stephen Johnson, The Independent
"Superb playing" The Gramophone
"The ideal Mozart experience...exquisite...as good as anything in the present recording catalogue. Wonderful, mellifluous, apparently effortless playing of the type an audience can dream of" Joe Riley, Liverpool Echo
Nicholas Cox's recording of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto and Quintet (ClassCD 1502) was released on the RLPO Live/Classico label in May 2003. In its first week it was CD of the week on Classic FM and has featured regularly on the airwaves ever since.
Gold Medalist at the 1984 Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition in London and 2nd prizewinner at the 1987 Jeunesses Musicales International Clarinet Competition, Nick has since played concertos with City of London Sinfonia, North German Radio, Prague Symphony Orchestra, the RLPO and Milton Keynes City Orchestra.
Nicholas's reputation as a player is also matched by a teaching career of distinction. Senior Tutor, Clarinet at the RNCM for eight years, his pupil Mark Simpson became the first musician to win both BBC Young Musician and BBC Young Composer of the Year awards in 2006.
After reading music at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, Nicholas studied clarinet with Hans Deinzer in Hanover on a German Government Scholarship and at the Aspen Music School on an English Speaking Union Scholarship. In 1992, he was appointed Principal Clarinet of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with whom he has played concertos by Copland, Weber, Nielsen, Bruch, Richard Strauss and Mozart. He has also been Principal Clarinet of Milton Keynes City Orchestra since 1991. He has appeared as Guest Principal with most of Britain's orchestras.
As a soloist he has appeared at Britain's most important festivals and halls including the Wigmore and Queen Elizabeth Halls, Edinburgh Festival, Cheltenham, Bath, Brighton and Huddersfield.
An enthusiastic advocate of new music for the clarinet, Nicholas gave the world première of the Clarinet Concerto by Adam Gorb in 1999 commissioned for him by the RLPO. Other composers who have written new works for him include Hugh Wood, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Jonathan Lloyd, Andrei Eshpai, Yuri Kasparov, Alan Ridout, Peter Fribbins, Emily Howard Matilda Brown and Francis Routh.
In 2005 he gave the first BBC broadcast of Giya Kancheli's haunting work 'Midday Prayers' in the presence of the composer. In 2007 he gave the premières of works by David Horne with Ensemble 10/10 and a Clarinet Quintet by Hugh Wood commissioned by the Rodewald Society. In November 2007 he gave a major recital at Liverpool Hope University for clarinet and electronics with Matthew Fairclough (sound projection) including Boulez's classic 1980s work Dialogue de l'ombre double and 2 commissioned works from Matthew Fairclough and Ian Percy.
His earlier recordings include CDs of sonatas by Brahms and Reger (1994, United:Cala 88012), Bliss's Clarinet Quintet (Redcliffe 010) together with works by Rawsthorne and Routh, Stravinsky's Soldier's Tale for Naxos (Northern Chamber Orchestra) and the complete Beethoven and Nielsen Symphonies with the RLPO. His performance of Richard Strauss's late Duet Concertino with the RLPO under Gerard Schwarz was released in 2005. Plans in 2008 include a CD of British Music.
In 1997 he founded Ensemble 10/10, the new music group of the RLPO and has since single-handedly revived the Rodewald Concert Society (founded in 1911 and named after Alfred Rodewald a Liverpool benefactor and great friend of Edward Elgar) to promote concerts of chamber music in Liverpool. Most of the current season's concerts have been sold out.
He has been a clarinet design consultant for Yamaha for several years and plays on Yamaha CSGH clarinets with his own design of bell. He is also research active producing new editions of works for clarinet by Francois Devienne for Edition HH and by Mieczyslaw Weinberg for Peer Music Hamburg. His edition of Devienne's 1st Sonata has been included in the Associated Board Grade VIII syllabus. The 3rd Devienne Sonata is due for publication this year.
Orchestral Work
Orchestras: Academy of St Martin In The Fields, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Milton Keynes City Orchestra, Opera North Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Nicholas's orchestral work also includes the Philharmonic Welsh and Concert Orchestras, Northern Sinfonia, Orchestra of St John's Smith Square, Music Projects, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, Bournemouth Symphony & Sinfonietta, London Classical Players, Hanover Band, Albion Ensemble, Redcliffe Ensemble, Endymion Ensemble, Wallace Collection
Education
Nicholas's schooling took place at King's School, Canterbury (Music Scholarship, 1972 - 1976). Nicholas's graduate studies took place at St Catherine's College, Cambridge (Choral Exhibition to read Music, 1977 - 1980), Musikhochschule Hannover (1980 - 1985) and National Centre for Orchestral Studies (1982 - 1983).
Prizes and Awards
- DAAD scholarship for study in Hannover (1980 - 1982)
- Robert Mayer Aspen Scholarship (1984)
- Jeunesses Musicales International Clarinet Competition (2nd prize & Union of Yugoslav Composer's Performance Award, 1987)
- NFMS Young Artists Award (1981)
- Park Lane Group Young Artists Series (1983)
- Royal Overseas League Music Festival (Gold Medal, Barclays Bank Award and B&H Wind Prize, 1984)
Teachers: Colin Bradbury, Hans Deinzer, Guy Deplus, Jack Brymer
Nicholas joined Morgensterns in November 1985
Nicholas's web profile was last updated 12th May 2012