British conductor Nicholas Collon is recognized for his elegant conducting style, searching musical intellect and inspirational music-making. He is Founder and Principal Conductor of Aurora Orchestra and has been Chief Conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony since 2021 (renewed until 2028). He was Chief Conductor of the Residentie Orkest in Den Haag (latterly also Artistic Advisor) from 2016 to 2021 and Principal Guest of the Gürzenich Orchester from 2017 to 2022.
With the Finnish Radio Symphony he has toured to the BBC Proms, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and to Germany and Estonia. Their expanding discography together for Ondine includes acclaimed discs of Sibelius, Lutosławski, Adès and Wennäkoski (winning the 2023 Gramophone Award for Best Contemporary Recording), with Richard Strauss, Elgar, Holst, and more Sibelius to come. Their 2024/25 concert season includes Messiaen’s "Turangalîla Symphony" and Stravinsky’s "Le Sacre du printemps" as part of a Paris theme, and works by Finnish-American composer Lara Poe. Every concert is broadcast live on Finnish National TV.
Nicholas Collon leads the Aurora Orchestra at the BBC Proms every year in their hugely popular memorised performances, this year with Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, televised live. Aurora are Resident at Kings Place and at the Southbank Centre where they have reinvented the concert format with their "Orchestral Theatre" Series. This season they tour to major German cities, and continue to appear regularly at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Cologne Philharmonie, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, and festivals such as Bremen, Rheingau, Schleswig-Holstein and Gstaad. They have recorded for Warner, winning the Echo Klassik Award for "Klassik Ohne Grenzen" in 2015, and latterly for Deutsche Grammophon.
Nicholas Collon debuted with the Dresden Staatskapelle in Spring 2024, and in 2024/25 he makes his first appearances with the San Francisco Symphony, Munich Philharmonic and WDR Symphony, and returns to the DSO Berlin. He regularly conducts orchestras such as the BBC Philharmonic (appearing at the BBC Proms with them in his second televised Prom this year), City of Birmingham Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Danish National Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony and Dresden Philharmonic, and has also guested with Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, Minnesota Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Vienna Radio Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, and Chamber Orchestra of Europe among many others.
He has conducted over 250 contemporary works, including the UK or world premieres of compositions by Unsuk Chin, Brett Dean, Phillip Glass, Colin Matthews, Anna Meredith, Nico Muhly, Olivier Messiaen, Krzysztof Penderecki, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Judith Weir, and Du Yun. Opera productions have included Peter Grimes and Don Giovanni for Cologne Opera, "The Magic Flute" at English National Opera, Jonathan Harvey’s "Wagner Dream" at Welsh National Opera, "The Rape of Lucretia" for Glyndebourne Touring Opera, and "The Turn of the Screw" at the Aldeburgh Festival with Aurora Orchestra.
Born in London, Nicholas is a violist, pianist and organist by training, and studied as Organ Scholar at Clare College, Cambridge.