Nico de Villiers

Nico de Villiers (piano) was born in South Africa and studied the piano from the age of four. He is currently a Guildhall Artist on the Master of Musical Performance Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, studying with Ronan O'Hora and Gordon Back.

Nico was an Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music International Undergraduate Scholar from 2001-2005, studying at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. During his time in Scotland Nico worked with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra's Chorus and Junior Chorus, the National Youth Choir of Scotland and the Cumbernauld Choral Society. He also worked with choirs at the International Choral Week in St. Clair, Provence France and appeared in recital with Swedish soprano Henriikka Gröndahl at the Norwegian Music Academy, Oslo.

In 2005 Nico was invited to take up his studies for the Master of Music (MMus) degree at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (USA), studying with world renowned pianist Martin Katz. He acted as coach and teaching assistant at Michigan for singers in preparation for recital and opera. He was an official coach and repetiteur for the University of Michigan Opera's production of Cosi fan tutte (Mozart) in 2005 and made his debut at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC in the same year.

He regularly works with various singers in recital. Regular partners include British mezzo-soprano Jane Irwin, baritone Gavin Carr and ENO young artist, and fellow South African, baritone William Berger. He performed widely across the UK as well as France, Norway, Sweden, Canada and the USA. Nico is currently a coach and accompanist at the International Music Academy in Pilsen, Czech Republic. He will also be a coach for the first time at the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria International Summer Course. A Dohnanyi and Saint-Saens chamber music concert tour in Sweden will bring a close to a busy and exciting summer in August and September 2008.

Nico will be a postgraduate fellow (accompaniment) of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2008-2009.