Nicholas Daniel

Nicholas Daniel (born 9 January 1962) is a British oboist and conductor.

Daniel won the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition in 1980 and was awarded the 2011 Queen's Medal for Music., cited as having made “an outstanding contribution to the musical life of the nation”.

Nicholas Daniel is a founding member of the Haffner Wind Ensemble and Britten Sinfonia, and formed a duo with pianist Julius Drake in 1981.

As Principal Oboe of Britten Sinfonia, Daniel has frequently appeared as a member of the orchestra and also as a soloist/director.

Daniel was Professor of Oboe at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for ten years, then in 1997 became Professor of Oboe and Conducting at the Indiana University School of Music.

He then was invited to be Prince Consort Professor of Oboe at the Royal College of Music in London.

In 2003 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Leicester International Music Festival.

He was educated at Salisbury Cathedral School and the Purcell School.

In 2004, he was named Professor of Oboe at the Musikhochschule in Trossingen, Germany.

In 2009 Britten Sinfonia released its first own label recording, which features Nicholas Daniel in John Tavener's Songs of the Sky.

In September 2021 Daniel was appointed as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor for the Orion Orchestra.

Daniel has commissioned and premiered many new works for the oboe, to increase its status as a solo instrument.

Such works include:

Daniel has recorded many albums, both solo work and chamber music, such as:

In 2016 his recording of concertos by Vaughan Williams and MacMillan was awarded the BBC Music Magazine Premiere Award.

He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to music.