Lancaster Festival Orchestra Spotlight
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LES NICHOLAS |
| "A sound like liquid gold..." (Cameo
Concerts) aptly describes the playing of clarinetist Les Nicholas.
Formerly Principal Clarinetist of ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, the
Dallas Chamber Orchestra, the West Virginia Symphony, Central City
Opera and the Classic Chamber Orchestra in New York, Mr. Nicholas
now devotes more of his time to the performance of chamber music.
A member of the Garth Newel Chamber Players since 1994, Mr. Nicholas
is also frequent soloist and Principal Clarinetist with the Lancaster F
estival in Ohio. He was a featured recitalist at Clar-Fest '92
International held at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory
of Music, and has been presented as chamber-soloist at the Lincoln
Center in New York City and the Kennedy Center for the Performing
Arts in Washington, D.C. Mr. Nicholas has performed throughout Europe
since 1984, most recently in Vienna, and at St. Martin-in-the-Fields,
London. In summers he has been heard in the Aspen Music Festival
Orchestras, the Coronado Festival in Arizona, the Grand Teton Festival
in Wyoming, and the Round Top Festival in Texas. Mr. Nicholas is
clarinetist with the Roanoke Symphony and Roanoke Opera, as well as
ounding member of WindRose (Trio d'Anches), co-founder of the chamber
ensemble Tal Consort, and frequently featured soloist with the Shenandoah
Valley Bach Festival. In 1999 he helped create a new chamber music festival,
Music from Maple Hill, on Minnesota's beautiful north shore of Lake
Superior. Additionally, in January of 2000, Nicholas was invited to join
the New Wintergreen Summer Music Festival as Principal Clarinetist,
Director of its Performance Academy, Coordinator of Chamber Music, and
Founding Director of the resident Wintergreen Chamber Players.
Mr. Nicholas holds performance degrees and diploma of distinction from
the University of Texas and Northwestern University, with additional
graduate study at Southern Methodist University and doctoral study at
the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music. His
principal teachers have been members of the Cleveland, Chicago, Dallas,
St. Louis, and Cincinnati Orchestras; most notably the late Robert
Marcellus, his mentor for many years. Presently on the applied faculties
of Radford University and Bridgewater College, Mr. Nicholas has also
taught at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music, Kenyon College,
Capital University, James Madison University, and for the American
Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.
When not performing or teaching, Nicholas can usually be found cycling
about the countryside with his violinist-wife, Joan Griffing, and their
young son, Breton.
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Contact Address: Bridgewater College, 402 E. College Street, Bridgewater, VA 22812-1599
Phone: (540)564-0473 OR 202-607-3541
E-Mail: lknicholas@earthlink.net
Website:www.lesnicholas.com
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