BIOGRAPHY

Nicholas Swensen has distinguished himself as a musician on both sides of the Atlantic and as both an instrumentalist and conductor. As winner of the Juilliard Viola Competition in 2021, he was the soloist in a performance of William Walton’s Viola Concerto conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano at Lincoln Center in New York. He has taken major prizes at viola competitions in Los Angeles (Primrose Viola Competition 2021) Prague (Oskar Nedbal International Viola Competition 2020) and Berlin (Max Rostal international viola competition 2019).

From October 2023 he is a part of the Kronberg Academy Professional Studies under the guidance of renowned violist Tabea Zimmermann.

In his native Denmark, he has also won several youth competitions as well as received the Léonie Sonning Talent Prize, the Jacob Gade Scholarship, the Van Hauen Scholarship and the Honorary Award of the Wilhelm Hansen Foundation.

Apart from The Julliard Orchestra, Nicholas has appeared as a soloist with Odense Symphony Orchestra, The Colburn Orchestra (Los Angeles) and several other. He has played chamber music with luminaries including Sir András Schiff, Gidon Kremer, Christian Tetzlaff and Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider and has appeared as a guest with chamber ensembles such as the Danish String Quartet and Trio Con Brio Copenhagen. Passionate to chamber music, Nicholas has taken part in world renowned festivals including Ravinia Festival, Kronberg Academy’s Chamber Music Connects the World, Accademia Isola Classica, Eggenfelden Klassisch, Radebeul Musikfestival, Oberstdorfer Musiksommer, Music@Menlo as well as all of the most prominent Danish chamber music festivals. Since 2022 he himself has taken over the Artistic Directorship of the Oremandsgaard Chamber Music Festival in Denmark.

In 2021 Nicholas was awarded the annual talent prize of public broadcaster DR’s P2 radio station, whose citation noted his ‘strong artistic personality’ and his ‘holistic view of music and enriching perspective on it.’ This perspective drives him to work increasingly as a conductor in which capacity he has been a student of Jorma Panula in Helsinki and took benefit from the guidance of Fabio Luisi at the Malko Conducting Academy in Copenhagen. He made his podium debut with the Lyngby-Taarbæk Symphony Orchestra, has conducted the Danish National Vocal Ensemble and been resident conductor for Festival and Friends in Copenhagen.

Nicholas holds a Master’s Degree from The Juilliard School, as a member of the prestigious Kovner Fellowship, studying with Heidi Castleman and Misha Amory. Previously he studied viola with Barbara Westphal in Lübeck and with Lars Anders Tomter and Asbjørn Nørgaard in Copenhagen.

He plays an Amati viola from 1616 on loan from Anders Sveaas’s Charitable Foundation.

MORE ABOUT ME

Your top 3 favourite pieces of music

Right now they are: Brahms Clarinet Quintet, Schubert last string quartet in G major, Mahler 4th symphony

What do you like about playing chamber music?

Chamber music is a way of meeting new people and being together with people you enjoy. I could not live without it.

Tell us a fun fact about you

As a child I won a talent competition for my dance-performance of Michael Jackson’s Bad, appearing in a self-made outfit including a glove full of messy glitter from the Christmas decoration box…