BIOGRAPHY Respected as one of the UK's most eminent and personable musicians, Nicholas Cox has been Senior Tutor Clarinet at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester since 2003 and Principal Clarinet of Milton Keynes City Orchestra since 1991. He has appeared as guest principal with most of Britain's orchestras including the LSO, Philharmonia, RPO, Orchestra of Covent Garden, CBSO, Hallé, BBCPO, BBCSO, BBCNOW, RSNO, SCO, the Academy of St.Martin's in the Fields and the London Sinfonietta. In a remarkably rich orchestral life he has recorded the complete Symphonies of Beethoven, Nielsen, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich and worked with such eminent conductors as Claudio Abbado, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Roger Norrington, Libor Pesek, Gerard Schwarz, Sir Andrew Davies and Sir Neville Marriner. His live recording of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto and Quintet (ClassCD 1502) released in May 2003 was CD of the week on Classic FM and has featured regularly on the airwaves ever since and is now considered among the finest modern recordings of the work. His recording of Richard Strauss's Duet Concertino under the baton of Gerard Schwarz is equally highly regarded.

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PRESS REVIEWS

What became increasingly - and ever more enthrallingly apparent as the recital unfolded was that the clarinettist Nicholas Cox and his pianist Vanessa Latarche not only have catholic tastes but also possess the technical accomplishment, stylistic insight and interpretative  discernment...both artists bring to their performance an assured and deeply engrained musicality...Their playing was marked by close rapport and an ideal balance of temperaments, each musician as acute as the other in entering instantly and thoroughly into the composer's individual worlds of sound.

 

An exhilarating evening & a duo to watch.

 

Geoffrey Norris  Daily Telegraph 1984

A fusion of the art of the entertainer with the skill of the deeply serious musician...Nicholas Cox's imaginative musicianship is revealed in unusually close focussed and widely modulated breath control: it can draw from the clarinet a near percussive tension for Debussy's Premiere Rhapsodie, or create a remarkable resilience of line in Weber's Grand Duo Concertante.

 

Hilary Finch The Times 1984

Any woodwind player who can sing through his instrument as though it represents an extension of his musical personality is clearly one of some consequence.  Nicholas Cox can and is.

 

Robert Cockcroft Yorkshire Post 1986

Quite why the Bliss Quintet should have received only two recordings in recent years is something of a mystery to me, as the quality of this lovely rhapsodic work is extremely high indeed. The intricately spun melodies of the first movement are here beautifully rendered by Nicholas Cox and the Redcliffe Ensemble and the elegiac slow movement is most movingly delivered too.

 

Alan Rawsthorne's most astringent Clarinet Quartet of 1946 strikes me as very fine and a worthwhile discovery also. Although it displays a clear debt to Viennese serialism its lyrical qualities are exceptionally strong and it is by no means an unapproachable piece. Francis Routh's five movement Clarinet Quintet was composed in 1994, but in a stylistic sense could easily be contemporary with or even earlier than, the Rawsthorne. Nevertheless, it is a pleasant and finely crafted work which here receives a spirited reading from its dedicatee, Nicholas Cox. The recorded sound is very natural indeed.

 

The Gramophone:  November 1996

The ideal Mozart experience lay in Nicholas Cox's playing of the Clarinet Concerto on the darker-toned basset clarinet. The result was exquisite and as good as anything in the present recording catalogue. Wonderful, mellifluous, apparently effortless playing of the type an audience can dream of, but so rarely gets to such a degree. A combination of perfect intonation and phrasing to make the spine tingle.

 

Joe Riley  Liverpool Echo 1998

One of the most beautiful and musically satisfying experiences of the festival was Nicholas Cox's recital on Wednesday morning. His vocal approach and elegant sense of style was displayed in a program that included his own realisation of one movement from a Sonata by Devienne; an unaccompanied work called Phantoms by David Horne, which included subtle circular breathing; a delicate and beautiful interpretation of the Debussy Rhapsodie; Sir Richard Rodney Bennett's haunting Ballade in Memory of Shirley Horn; and the clever Tributes to Messaien and Poulenc by Edward Gregson...wonderful musicmaking.

 

Jane Ellsworth The Clarinet Dec 2009: Review of International ClarinetFest in Porto

Nicholas Cox gave committed, convincing performances of two novelties...Nick and Harvey [Davies] gave a superb performance particularly bringing out the different characteristics in the Hamilton flower pieces...it was good to hear this [performance] that focused 100% on the music.

 

 

Susan Moss and Ian Mitchell in CASS Magazine Autumn 2013

The work is dedicated to Nicholas Cox who could do all the klezmer styles to perfection and surmounted the terrifying technical demands with ease.

 

John Fuest reviewing Adam Gorb's Clarinet Concerto

 

Clarinet and Saxophone Magazine Winter 1999

Fine phrasing and velvety tone from clarinettist Nicholas Cox, the limpid beauty of the slow movement.. and the engaging energy in the final variations was quite breathtaking. This was a superbly relaxed and good humoured performance with Nicholas Cox playing his modern basset clarinet magnificently. An evening to treasure and remember with gratitude.

 

DCW Grimsby Telegraph Dec 2002: Review of Mozart Quintet,

 

Camerata Ensemble of Manchester

For all the British understatement of his introductory words, the concert that now followed turned out to be a real highlight at this late hour. Three Nocturnes by Iain Hamilton was the piece Cox started with. The rather sombre atmosphere of the first movement increased in the second in which Cox sparkled with fast runs. The third movement began with the solo clarinet which developed extremely cleverly the secret character of this piece and brought it to a conclusion. The second piece, the Sonata by Roger Fiske started romantically with lots of island melancholy, the material here shaped with a beautiful sense of chamber music....the Fiske turned out to be a real discovery and a prominent concert experience to which the Cox's excellent, but never obtrusive, performance contributed considerably.

 

Alexander Doll's Review of Madrid European Clarinet Association Concert December 2011

 

in Rohrblatt March 2012

Email: info@nicholascox.co.uk

Phone: 01925 756281

Copyright Nicholas Cox 2017 | Website by Vision4Dreams

BIOGRAPHY Respected as one of the UK's most eminent and personable musicians, Nicholas Cox has been Senior Tutor Clarinet at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester since 2003 and Principal Clarinet of Milton Keynes City Orchestra since 1991. He has appeared as guest principal with most of Britain's orchestras including the LSO, Philharmonia, RPO, Orchestra of Covent Garden, CBSO, Hallé, BBCPO, BBCSO, BBCNOW, RSNO, SCO, the Academy of St.Martin's in the Fields and the London Sinfonietta. In a remarkably rich orchestral life he has recorded the complete Symphonies of Beethoven, Nielsen, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich and worked with such eminent conductors as Claudio Abbado, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Roger Norrington, Libor Pesek, Gerard Schwarz, Sir Andrew Davies and Sir Neville Marriner. His live recording of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto and Quintet (ClassCD 1502) released in May 2003 was CD of the week on Classic FM and has featured regularly on the airwaves ever since and is now considered among the finest modern recordings of the work. His recording of Richard Strauss's Duet Concertino under the baton of Gerard Schwarz is equally highly regarded.
PRESS REVIEWS
BIOGRAPHY Respected as one of the UK's most eminent and personable musicians, Nicholas Cox has been Senior Tutor Clarinet at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester since 2003 and Principal Clarinet of Milton Keynes City Orchestra since 1991. He has appeared as guest principal with most of Britain's orchestras including the LSO, Philharmonia, RPO, Orchestra of Covent Garden, CBSO, Hallé, BBCPO, BBCSO, BBCNOW, RSNO, SCO, the Academy of St.Martin's in the Fields and the London Sinfonietta. In a remarkably rich orchestral life he has recorded the complete Symphonies of Beethoven, Nielsen, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich and worked with such eminent conductors as Claudio Abbado, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Roger Norrington, Libor Pesek, Gerard Schwarz, Sir Andrew Davies and Sir Neville Marriner. His live recording of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto and Quintet (ClassCD 1502) released in May 2003 was CD of the week on Classic FM and has featured regularly on the airwaves ever since and is now considered among the finest modern recordings of the work. His recording of Richard Strauss's Duet Concertino under the baton of Gerard Schwarz is equally highly regarded. PRESS REVIEWS
BIOGRAPHY Respected as one of the UK's most eminent and personable musicians, Nicholas Cox has been Senior Tutor Clarinet at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester since 2003 and Principal Clarinet of Milton Keynes City Orchestra since 1991. He has appeared as guest principal with most of Britain's orchestras including the LSO, Philharmonia, RPO, Orchestra of Covent Garden, CBSO, Hallé, BBCPO, BBCSO, BBCNOW, RSNO, SCO, the Academy of St.Martin's in the Fields and the London Sinfonietta. In a remarkably rich orchestral life he has recorded the complete Symphonies of Beethoven, Nielsen, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich and worked with such eminent conductors as Claudio Abbado, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Roger Norrington, Libor Pesek, Gerard Schwarz, Sir Andrew Davies and Sir Neville Marriner. His live recording of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto and Quintet (ClassCD 1502) released in May 2003 was CD of the week on Classic FM and has featured regularly on the airwaves ever since and is now considered among the finest modern recordings of the work. His recording of Richard Strauss's Duet Concertino under the baton of Gerard Schwarz is equally highly regarded. PRESS REVIEWS
BIOGRAPHY Respected as one of the UK's most eminent and personable musicians, Nicholas Cox has been Senior Tutor Clarinet at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester since 2003 and Principal Clarinet of Milton Keynes City Orchestra since 1991. He has appeared as guest principal with most of Britain's orchestras including the LSO, Philharmonia, RPO, Orchestra of Covent Garden, CBSO, Hallé, BBCPO, BBCSO, BBCNOW, RSNO, SCO, the Academy of St.Martin's in the Fields and the London Sinfonietta. In a remarkably rich orchestral life he has recorded the complete Symphonies of Beethoven, Nielsen, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich and worked with such eminent conductors as Claudio Abbado, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Roger Norrington, Libor Pesek, Gerard Schwarz, Sir Andrew Davies and Sir Neville Marriner. His live recording of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto and Quintet (ClassCD 1502) released in May 2003 was CD of the week on Classic FM and has featured regularly on the airwaves ever since and is now considered among the finest modern recordings of the work. His recording of Richard Strauss's Duet Concertino under the baton of Gerard Schwarz is equally highly regarded. PRESS REVIEWS
BIOGRAPHY Respected as one of the UK's most eminent and personable musicians, Nicholas Cox has been Senior Tutor Clarinet at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester since 2003 and Principal Clarinet of Milton Keynes City Orchestra since 1991. He has appeared as guest principal with most of Britain's orchestras including the LSO, Philharmonia, RPO, Orchestra of Covent Garden, CBSO, Hallé, BBCPO, BBCSO, BBCNOW, RSNO, SCO, the Academy of St.Martin's in the Fields and the London Sinfonietta. In a remarkably rich orchestral life he has recorded the complete Symphonies of Beethoven, Nielsen, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich and worked with such eminent conductors as Claudio Abbado, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Roger Norrington, Libor Pesek, Gerard Schwarz, Sir Andrew Davies and Sir Neville Marriner. His live recording of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto and Quintet (ClassCD 1502) released in May 2003 was CD of the week on Classic FM and has featured regularly on the airwaves ever since and is now considered among the finest modern recordings of the work. His recording of Richard Strauss's Duet Concertino under the baton of Gerard Schwarz is equally highly regarded. PRESS REVIEWS
BIOGRAPHY Respected as one of the UK's most eminent and personable musicians, Nicholas Cox has been Senior Tutor Clarinet at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester since 2003 and Principal Clarinet of Milton Keynes City Orchestra since 1991. He has appeared as guest principal with most of Britain's orchestras including the LSO, Philharmonia, RPO, Orchestra of Covent Garden, CBSO, Hallé, BBCPO, BBCSO, BBCNOW, RSNO, SCO, the Academy of St.Martin's in the Fields and the London Sinfonietta. In a remarkably rich orchestral life he has recorded the complete Symphonies of Beethoven, Nielsen, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich and worked with such eminent conductors as Claudio Abbado, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Roger Norrington, Libor Pesek, Gerard Schwarz, Sir Andrew Davies and Sir Neville Marriner. His live recording of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto and Quintet (ClassCD 1502) released in May 2003 was CD of the week on Classic FM and has featured regularly on the airwaves ever since and is now considered among the finest modern recordings of the work. His recording of Richard Strauss's Duet Concertino under the baton of Gerard Schwarz is equally highly regarded. PRESS REVIEWS