Donald Nicolson, harpsichord, organ

Listed among Australia’s best classical performers by the ABC in 2019, New Zealand-born harpsichordist, synth artist, organist, composer and arranger, Donald Nicolson is a prominent figure in performance and research of the music of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe, and in high demand on the concert podium. A PhD in Musicology at the University of Melbourne in 2018, an avid reader of the classics and ancient rhetoric, Donald is convenor of the Early Music Studio at the University of Melbourne, and gives regular talks and lectures on music and history.

Donald maintains a busy performing schedule in the early music scene and on the orchestral platform, is musical director for Melbourne’s Genesis Baroque, composer and arranger for Van Diemen's Band and Latitude 37, and appears regularly with the ACO, Pinchgut, and MSO. He is a key member of Anja & Zlatna, an ensemble which infuses the folk music of the Balkans with improvisational practices of the seventeenth century, and co-founder of baroque/electronic duo Bronzewing with violist Katie Yap. His critically acclaimed 2022 commission from Van Diemen’s Band, Spirals, toured Australia and New Zealand, drawing on influences ranging from 17^th-century Italy to video game music.

Donald is equally at home in front of the harpsichord, synthesizer or looper. He has an extensive discography that encapsulates his well-known diversity as a musician, ranging from William Byrd (Latitude 37: Royal Consorts) to John Psathas (Helix) and composes new works fusing electronica with harpsichord under his 8Bit Harpsichord profile.