Donald Nicolson

the directors' cut
jkirsner

Genesis Baroque | The Directors’ Cut – Les Gôuts Réunis

Join Genesis Baroque’s Artistic Director Jennifer Kirsner and Principal Music Director Donald Nicolson and friends for works by some of their all-time favourite composers. The ultimate mixed bag of treats from Bohemia to England, via Italy, Spain, and France. A wintery, warming, eclectic musical romp that showcases the trailblazing imagination of the baroque age.  

Read More »
dj6 5767
Ambassador thoughts
Guest Reviewer

Wattleseed presents a truly creative and gripping exploration of Australian sound worlds

Wattleseed Ensemble | The Orchid and the Wasp Saturday 29 November, 2025, Oratory, Abbotsford Convent Beginning with music from 12-century polymath Hildegard von Bingen, ending with contemporary Swedish fiddle music, and covering everything from Bach to multidisciplinary sound art in-between, it’s hard to imagine any other string trio pulling off the kaleidoscopic journey that was “The Orchid and the Wasp”,

Read More »
donald nicolson
Ambassador thoughts
David Hood

MCO gives us treasures of the highest value in ‘Nightingale’

Melbourne Chamber Orchestra | Nightingale November 23, 2025,  Melbourne Recital Centre, VIC THE GREAT J.S. Bach, renowned as a master organist certainly knew his way around a harpsichord, as well; so much so that one of his employers hired him to repair some of His Lordship’s instruments. Although he’d arranged some of Vivaldi’s concertos previously, Bach, single-handedly (both hands actually),

Read More »
kaboul vdb3
Ambassador thoughts
Pepe Newton

Van Diemen’s Band + Ensemble Kaboul’s virtuosic journey across time + cultures

Van Diemen’s Band & Ensemble Kaboul | Where Everything is Music  4 October 2025, Leichhardt Town Hall, NSW Leichhardt Town Hall was packed on a warm Saturday night, an impressive turnout for a program that promised something genuinely different. Where Everything is Music, the collaboration between Van Diemen’s Band and Ensemble Kaboul, offered a journey through time and across cultures. From

Read More »
c5
Ambassador thoughts
Daniel Brace

Freshness, vitality and wonderful sound from St Pauls’ Messiah

St Paul’s Cathedral | Handel’s Messiah September 6, 2024, St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne Vic For lots of the boys and girls of the combined choir and no doubt for some in the packed out pews of St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne – including my Dad and my step-mum, Gina – last night’s Messiah was their first. And what a glorious introduction

Read More »
2023 11 03 katie and donald 1196 enhanced nr 3
Ambassador thoughts
Guest Reviewer

Yap’s interstellar Black Cockatoos

Katie Yap | Multitudes: Black Cockatoos November 3, 2023, Tempo Rubato The opening concert in Katie Yap’s Multitudes is a tour-de-force through history. Joined by Donald Nicolson, the program spans the entire breadth of western music with a viola and a gamut of keyboards. The program is ambitious and showcases the outstanding skill and musicality of Yap and Nicolson, both

Read More »
chocolate viola 2
Ambassador thoughts
Daniel Brace

Yap’s Chocolate Viola a feast for the ears and the soul

Melbourne Baroque Orchestra | The Chocolate Viola Performance 15 Oct, 2023 – reviewed from the live recording I’m so grateful that over the past few years we have really gotten used to enjoying live music both in the concert venue and also at home, thanks to good quality live streaming and recording. But in this case, I think the live

Read More »

Latitude 37’s beautiful music is a thing that binds us

Latitude 37 | Meditations Tuesday 3 October, Melbourne Recital Centre Meditations is the title from the latest concert by early music ensemble Latitude 37, Laura Vaughan on viola da gamba and lira da gamba, Julia Fredersdorff on baroque violin and Donald Nicolson on organ. The program, which was continuously played without applause from the second item until the last, was

Read More »
latitude37~mv2
Ambassador thoughts
Daniel Brace

Latitude 37’s ‘sweete musicks skill’

Latitude 37 | The Pleasing Slumber  July 12, 2023, The Eleventh Hour, Fitzroy It’s obvious that Latitude 37 enjoy making music together. They could easily be making music in a musik room of 16-17th century England, at The Eleventh Hour in Fitzroy, or, in your lounge room, playing just for you, or for each other’s pleasure. Julia Fredersdorff (violin), Laura

Read More »
latitude37~mv2
Ambassador thoughts
Daniel Brace

Latitude 37 delivers a French baroque feast

Latitude 37 | Parisian Soiree 29 April, 2023,  Athenaeum 2, Melbourne The opening bars of Marin Marais electrifying exposition on the bells of Saint-Genevieve du Mont de Paris are guaranteed to elicit a response. My mind used to go to the 1991 French film Tous les Matin de Monde, but more recently the sound invokes the ridiculous satire on the

Read More »
Ambassador thoughts
Jane Downer

The virtuosic fervour of Van Diemen’s Band

Van Diemen’s Band – Bach Concertos Thursday 30th June 2022, ADCH livestream – Palais Theatre Franklin, Tasmania A newly purchased harpsichord, hand-crafted from the Spanish workshop of Titus Crijnen was the centrepiece of the Bach Concertos programme given by Van Diemen’s Band at the historic Palais Theatre Franklin in Tasmania’s Huon Valley, streamed live through the Australian Digital Concert Hall. Formed

Read More »

The Muses’ Delight – beauty with an inner layer of complexity

The Muses’ Delight | Messengers for Elegant Society Wednesday, 25 May, 2022, Primrose Potter Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre Presented by Melbourne Recital Centre and The Muses’ Delight The Muses’ Delight (Meredith Beardmore – flute, Lizzy Welsh – violin, Edwina Cordingley – violoncello, and Donald Nicolson – harpsichord) eloquently describe themselves as “musical explorers who open a window to the past,

Read More »
Ambassador thoughts
Jane Downer

‘Borderlands’ manifestly defined the mood of current times

Van Diemen’s Band – Borderlands Monday 9th May, 2022 Musica Viva National Livestream – City Recital Hall, Sydney For Julia Fredersdorff (Van Diemen’s Band’s Artistic Director) living in Tasmania, the initial idea for Borderlands arose from the shutting down of Australian state borders, which led to thoughts of isolated lands and country extremities. Then, with the military attack on Ukraine

Read More »
Groups
Pepe Newton

Musica Viva unveils 2022

Musica Viva Australia has unveiled their 2022 program, featuring partnerships that span both the country and the world as they bring audiences back to concert halls around Australia to experience a diverse range of live music and the sheer astonishing joy of live performance. Musica Viva’s Artistic Director Paul Kildea said, “Chamber music remains my great love, and in 2022

Read More »
Latitude 37 - Passions of the Soul Part 1
Ambassador thoughts
Jane Downer

Review: Latitude 37 | Syncopation, exoticism & ingenious violin techniques

Latitude 37 – Passions of the Soul Part 1 Thursday 11th February 2021 on Melbourne Digital Concert Hall Held at the Melbourne Athenaeum to audiences both live and via computer technology, Latitude 37 (a group specialising in 17th- and 18th-century repertoire rarely performed in Australia) presented Passions of the Soul, the title inspired by René Descarte’s scrutiny into the nature

Read More »

Calendar of Events

Calendar of Events

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
0 events,

1 event,

-

3 events,

Featured -
Featured -
-

2 events,

Featured -
-

1 event,

Featured -

6 events,

Featured -
Featured -
Featured -

7 events,

Featured -
Featured -
Featured -
0 events,

1 event,

Featured -

2 events,

Featured -
-

1 event,

-

5 events,

Featured -
Featured -
Featured -

5 events,

Featured -
Featured -
Featured -

6 events,

Featured -
Featured -
-

1 event,

-

1 event,

-
0 events,

3 events,

Featured -
-
-

6 events,

Featured -
Featured -
Featured -

8 events,

Featured -
Featured -
Featured -

6 events,

Featured -
Featured -
Featured -

1 event,

-

1 event,

2 events,

4 events,

2 events,

13 events,

Sydney Chamber Music Festival | 2026

11 events,

-

2 events,

4 events,

Featured -
-
-

2 events,

-

3 events,

Featured -

8 events,

Featured -
Featured -
Featured -

3 events,

Featured -

Upcoming Events

List of events in Photo View

Search classikON