Nicholas White is a Grammy nominated composer and conductor, as well as a versatile organist, pianist and singer, with experience in many different styles of music. Nicholas gives frequent performances throughout the United States, and has a steady stream of commissions from musical organizations across the country. He is Artistic Director of Joyful Noise (Chorus Angelicus & Gaudeamus), a musical organization based in Northwest Connecticut, that supports five choral ensembles, involving over one hundred singers, age 5 to adult. He is Organist and Choirmaster of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Beverly Farms, MA, and is also Founding Music Director of the New York City vocal ensemble, Tiffany Consort.
Nicholas was born in London, England, and received his early musical training as a treble chorister. He held his first organist and choirmaster position at the age of fifteen, going on to become organ scholar of Clare College, Cambridge, from 1986-1989. Since coming to the U.S. in 1989, Nicholas has held various positions in churches, colleges and schools. From 1994-1998 he was Assistant Organist and Choirmaster of Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC, and was also Keyboard Artist for the Cathedral Choral Society. He was Music Director and Conductor of the Woodley Ensemble, one of Washington’s premiere chamber choirs, from 1997-2000, and was Organist and Choirmaster of St. Michael’s Church, New York City from 1998 – 2005. From 2006-2007 Nicholas was Organist and Choirmaster of All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, PA and Composer-in-Residence at Philadelphia Cathedral. In 2003 White founded Tiffany Consort, a New York City based ensemble of eight accomplished singers. The group’s first CD, “O Magnum Mysterium” was nominated for a Grammy, and the second CD, “In Sure and Certain Hope: Choral Music of Nicholas White”, was released in December 2006.
Nicholas is an active and critically acclaimed composer, with music published by Hinshaw, Trinitas, Augsburg Fortress and Oxford University Press. His large-scale work for solo soprano, chorus, organ, brass and percussion -“Magnificat” – was premiered at the National Cathedral in 1997, and was performed in a newly orchestrated version in May 2009. Other commissions include “Full Freedom”, a piece for multiple choirs, instrumentalists and dancers, written for the annual choral tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in January 2002 at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC. White has received numerous commissions from choirs across the country, most recently from the Hanson Institute for American Music (Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY), Lyric Fest (Philadelphia, PA), Christchurch Cathedral (Cincinnati, OH) and The Commonwealth Youthchoirs (Philadelphia, PA).