Nicolas Haigh
Artistic Leader
Prize-winning organist and harpsichordist Nicolas Haigh is currently Associate Organist at Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, New York City. Prior to this he held positions with the multiple Gramophone Award-winning Choir of New College, Oxford; York Minster; Christ Episcopal Church; and Myers Park United Methodist Church. While in Oxford he worked closely with Robert Quinney (formerly Sub-Organist of Westminster Abbey and organist at the wedding of Prince William and Katherine Middleton), traveled to Vatican City to perform at a Papal Mass for the Solemnity of Ss Peter and Paul, served as organist of the city church, St Michael at the North Gate, and he frequently accompanied the choir of men and boys at Christ Church Cathedral. He is a recipient of the coveted Limpus Prize from the Royal College of Organists and recently performed in the St Alban's International Organ Festival. He was a student at the University of Cambridge, where he graduated with a degree in musicology and held the Sir William McKie Organ Scholarship at Clare College, accompanying the world-famous chapel choir for numerous international tours, concerts, and broadcasts. Nicolas’ teachers have included Malcolm Archer (St Paul’s Cathedral), Clive Driskill-Smith (Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford), James McVinnie (Westminster Abbey), Lisa Goode Crawford (Oberlin Conservatory), and Jonathan Moyer (Oberlin Conservatory).
Nicolas is increasingly in demand nationally as a keyboardist and choral conductor; during the 2019-2020 season, he will appear with American Bach Soloists (CA), Bach Akademie Charlotte (IA and NC), and L'Académie du Roi Soleil (NC). He has also appeared as a Young Artist with the Britten-Pears Festival and with American Bach Soloists, and performs regularly with the Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, Orchestra of Opera North, and Huddersfield Choral Society. As a repetiteur he has collaborated on projects with ensembles including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and the Israel Camerata. Active as a clinician, the 2019-2020 season will see Nicolas lead masterclasses at the University of Iowa, Davidson College, and Wake Forest University.
Nicolas has been privileged to perform on a number of tours to countries including America, Australia, France, Italy, Hong Kong, The Netherlands, and Israel. Furthermore, he has performed at venues such as the Sydney Opera House; St Peter’s Basilica; St Paul’s Cathedral; Westminster Abbey; St John’s, Smith Square; Coventry Cathedral; St Patrick’s Cathedral, Belfast; and Liverpool Cathedral. He also performs regularly as both a soloist and accompanist on radio in the United States and the United Kingdom, accompanying choirs on Choral Evensong and In Tune (BBC Radio 3), as well as on Sunday Worship (BBC Radio 4). He can be heard as an organist on the CD Veni Emmanuel (Harmonia Mundi USA); as a singer on Imogen Holst: Choral Works (Harmonia Mundi USA) and A Tudor Christmas; and as a soloist and continuo player on a forthcoming CD of seventeenth-century German music with Ensemble Vermillian.