About ViVA

Nicholas Kok
Principal Guest Conductor

Nicholas Kok is an extremely versatile conductor and musician. In the concert hall, the opera house and on radio he has conducted numerous world and British premieres, including works by Birtwistle, Holt, Maxwell Davies, Reich, Turnage and Xenakis. He is currently Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor to the leading contemporary music ensemble Psappha, with which he has recorded and toured extensively. From 1996 to 2006 he was Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of sinfonia ViVA, with which he performed a large and varied repertoire and is now the orchestra's Principal Guest Conductor.

For English National Opera he has conducted Orfeo, Il Ritorno d'Ulisse, The Fairy Queen, The Marriage of Figaro, Cosî fan tutte, King Priam, the world premieres of Turnage's The Country of the Blind and Twice through the Heart in a joint production with South Bank Centre and Aldeburgh Festival, and the world premiere of Arion and the Dolphin. He made his Opera North debut conducting the world premiere of Simon Holt's The Nightingale's to Blame at the Huddersfield Festival, where he also conducted the British premiere of Hindenburg, part one of a major work by Steve Reich. He returned to Opera North for new productions of Gluck Orfeo, Stravinsky Les Noces and Purcell Dido and Aeneas. Festivals at which he has appeared include Edinburgh, BBC Proms, Orkney, Cheltenham, Montepulciano and 'Sound Around' in Copehhagen/Malmo.

Nicholas Kok made his debut at the Stuttgart Staatsoper conducting Purcell King Arthur, and returned for a new productions of L'incoronazione di Poppea and Gluck Orphee along with revivals of Hänsel und Gretel, and L'italania in Algieri. For Cologne Opera he directed Le Nozze di Figaro and a new production of Semele, which he also directed in Graz. For Oper Leipzig he has conducted Alceste and Iphigenie en Aulide. In Lisbon he conducted Handel Agrippina at the Teatro Sao Carlos and in Klagenfurt highly acclaimed productions of Handel Teseo and Cavalli Il Giasone, and, in Porto, a new production of L'Elisir d'Amore.

He played a large part in setting up Almeida Opera for which he conducted Mario the Magician by Stephen Oliver. For Opera Factory London he conducted numerous productions including works by Xenakis and Osborne alongside Poppea, Dido and Aeneas, Cosi fan tutte, The Magic Flute and Curlew River. For Opera Factory Zürich he conducted La Calisto and Marschner Der Vampyr. For McKinsey/WDR/Arte he conducted the world premieres of Alexander Krampe's reworkings of Rousseau Pygmalion and Bizet Carmen.

Orchestras and ensembles he has worked with include the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Scottish National, Radio Sinfonie Orchester Berlin, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Scottish Symphony, BBC Concert Orchestra, RTE National Symphony Ireland, Ulster Orchestra, Hallé, Het Gelders Orkest, Munich Chamber Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Jenaer Philharmonie, Orchestra of St John's Smith Square and Orquestra Nacional do Porto.

Nicholas Kok works frequently with the BBC Singers with whom he has recorded an extensive repertoire. He has recorded for radio and television, and has written and arranged music for both mediums, as well as working as assistant/banda conductor on numerous recordings for Opera Rara and Chandos. He has worked closely with many choreographers (as conductor and arranger) and has conducted for Birmingham Royal Ballet including Le Baiser de la Fee, Petrushka and The Firebird; Scottish Ballet Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet and Sleeping Beauty as well as three programmes at the Edinburgh Festival; and Stockholm Royal Ballet. He played the premiere of his own music for Scottish Dance Theatre's 'Out of the House' performances, and the world premiere of his 7th Degree which was performed by Julian Bliss and ViVA, conducted by the composer.

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