Alumni

Nicholas Rimmer

Pianist, Organ Scholar (2000-03)

“Clare’s musical life is so rich and varied”

“It was a great pleasure and privilege to hold an Organ Scholarship at Clare and to work with the Choir for three years. I remember being very much in awe when I arrived and listened to my first evensong from the organ loft of the College chapel. The standard of musicianship which was expected of the Choir and of the Organ Scholars was on a new plane from anything I had known before and I found it inspiring and challenging in equal measure. Throughout my time at Clare, the Choir continued to extend my musical horizons; we worked with internationally renowned conductors such as John Eliot Gardiner, René Jacobs and Ivor Bolton, each of whom clearly valued the Choir very highly, but who were able to mould it to their needs and to their taste in only a few rehearsals. I was also able to develop my own conducting skills while in charge of chapel music for a term during the Director of Music’s sabbatical.

Although my career is nowadays not in church music, I feel that my time with the Choir was a very important part of my musical development. It might sound somewhat old-fashioned, but I am very glad to have skills like transposition, sight-reading and clef-reading – they are an Organ Scholar’s ‚daily bread’, but as I have found, they are regrettably neglected in musical training in many other institutions! I experienced my first radio broadcasts, CD recordings and concert tours with the Choir, and learnt how to deal with the some of the stressful sides of professional music-making. I feel enriched by having got to know a huge range of music from all periods, including many works by living composers.

Clare’s musical life is so rich and varied and for me it was the ideal place to study. I am grateful to have been a part of such a wonderful tradition and I wish the Choir, the College and all who study and work there the very best for the future.”

Nicholas Rimmer was born in Wigan, England and began his musical training at the Royal Northern College of Music, going on to study in Cambridge, Hannover, Berlin and Cologne. He was awarded the Donald Wort Prize for Performance at Cambridge University in 2003 as well as 1st Prizes at the Birmingham Accompanist of the Year Award (2005) and at the German Music Competition (2006 & 2011). He also toured internationally as organist for the renowned Clare College Choir, gaining critical acclaim for his recording of the John Rutter Requiem on the Naxos label.

Nicholas has performed with orchestras such as the Manchester Camerata and Aurora orchestra. He has appeared at festivals such as Aldeburgh, Aix-en-Provence, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein and Ludwigsburg and he has given concerts and piano masterclasses in Nagoya, Japan. In 2011 he released his debut recording of solo piano works titled ‘Acht Sauschneider and other Improvisations’ for the German independent label MVH Music. Since 2007 he has formed a regular duo with the violist Nils Mönkemeyer, with whom he won the Parkhouse Award in 2009 and whose debut CD ‘Without Words’ for the Sony label received an ECHO-Klassik Award. Other labels for which Nicholas Rimmer has recorded include cpo, Genuin, Naxos, Rondeau, and Thorofon. Another major focus in his career is the Leibniz piano trio, founded in 2005 with whom he has played across Germany, Holland, UK, Poland and the Republic of Macedonia.

His strong interest in the song repertoire has led him to important venues such as the Wigmore Hall working with established singers such as Philip Langridge as well as many younger song recitalists. In addition he formed the ‘Trio Belli-Fischer-Rimmer’, which performs music in the unique combination of trombone, percussion and piano.

Since 2009 Nicholas Rimmer has taught as a junior fellow for piano and chamber music at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hanover.