Joanna Nicholson

Joanna Nicholson was a junior student of clarinet and piano at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and continued her studies as a prize winning Exhibition Scholar at the Royal College of Music, London. 

She is known for bringing theatrical context to her work, and collaborating with artists of different disciplines. Her first professional engagements were  with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, with whom she was a bass clarinet soloist at the London Proms and on CD.  She has continued to work with them as a freelance player, as well as with all the major orchestras and ensembles in Scotland, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, RTÉ Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and with diverse outfits such as Yiddish Song Project, The Matilda Brown Ensemble, Turning the Elements, Red Note Ensemble and The Night With…

As well as solo and chamber recitals in venues including The Purcell Room, Joanna has given concerto performances with the BBC SSO, The Orchestra of St John's, Smith Square, and The Scottish Ensemble. 

She established Sonsie Music in 1990, a group dedicated to performing her musical stories for children, and her pieces have had hundreds of performances in schools, libraries and festivals.  In 2025 her chamber opera 'Aud the Deep Minded' was described by Skinners Music Review as "not just one of the best shows at the [Edinburgh] Fringe this year—it’s one of the most original and affecting pieces of music-theatre in recent memory. " 

She has recorded a solo album which was shortlisted in the New Music Scotland Awards, with performances of her own composition Gyre as well as William Sweeney's epic Nine Days Piobeareachd.

She lives on the Moray coast, and is currently working on a score for the horror film  HomeSmartHome.

Worklist

Aud the Deep Minded (2024) - one act chamber opera dur. 40mins, for soprano, clarinet, horn, electronics and projections.

No Trees to Whisper (2022) - multi-composer song cycle for soprano and clarinet, with video.

MTB Tunes (2021) - five folk tunes arranged or composed for solo clarinet and electronics, with video.

Lux Perpetua (2020) - setting of the Nan Shepherd poem for soprano and bass clarinet.

Gyre (2017) - solo clarinet, optional delay.

(2000-2012) - seven musical stories dur. approx 40 mins, for children.