Nick Gethin
Nick Gethin started life as a
linguist, with a French and German degree from Oxford
University, but soon graduated to a career in music. At the
Royal Academy of Music, where he was a pupil of Florence Hooton, he
won a Leverhulme Scholarship, the highly prestigious Suggia Award,
and gave performances of the Saint-Saens and recently re-discovered
Frank Bridge concertos. Further studies followed in Vienna
with Andre Navarra, one of the greatest method pedagogues of his
time, and on his return he was offered the post of Principal Cello
with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He declined this in
favour of a principal position at English National Opera, going on
to give debut recitals at the Wigmore Hall and at the Purcell Room
with the pianist David Owen Norris.
Nick spent the next twenty-five
years in London, first with English National Opera and soon after
with the London Symphony Orchestra, where he combined orchestral
life with cutting-edge outreach work in schools and the community,
and an ongoing solo career. Concerto performances include
works by Elgar, Shostakovitch, Schumann and Dvorak and the Rococo
Variations. Nick is a founder member of the new music ensemble
Lontano. He has taught at all levels throughout his career
and has also enjoyed coaching chamber music and orchestral
ensembles in youth orchestras, summer residential courses and at
Chetham’s School of Music. In 2006 he resigned his post with the
London Symphony Orchestra in order to concentrate on teaching and
solo playing.