ENSEMBLES 2026

The Nicolaou Ensemble

The Nicolaou Ensemble is a string group from the Andreas Nicolaou School of Music, founded in 1973. At the school, pupils aged between 3 and 18 attend lessons twice weekly, individually and in groups. The ensemble brings together all the players at the school in multi-level programmes of music, enabling a continuous circular mentoring process of learning. The importance of this way of working was fundamental to the teaching methods of the school’s founder, Andreas Nicolaou. He understood how well children respond to learning from each other, how much improvement they make when demonstrating to one another and how important it is to see the entirety of their musical journey by working with those who are more advanced. The group lessons promote an awareness of tone, intonation, ensemble, timing and phrasing, all from the very first day of learning. Over the last 53 years, the ensemble in various guises has appeared on the BBC, Radio 3, ITV and Classic FM. The children have taken part in the Schools Prom at the Royal Albert Hall many times and been invited by the musician and broadcaster, Sir Richard Stilgoe, to perform at his concerts at the Royal Festival Hall. They have performed to the late Queen Elizabeth II, for the Foreign Secretary and for charities such as UNICEF and CLIC Sargent. At present, the ensemble is made up of thirteen violinists and one cellist, the youngest being 9 years old. They have been performing in local and national festivals and concerts over the last year and enjoying expanding their repertoire. They perform without a conductor and from memory.

Joanna Sophia Nicolaou

Conductor

Joanna Nicolaou began her musical lessons with her father Andreas Nicolaou at the age of 3, first on the violin and then on the cello and the piano. She went on to study with the renowned cellist William Pleeth and graduated with Honours from the Royal College of Music in London in 1993. Joanna began teaching at the age of 14 under the guidance of her father and at 11, became the School’s accompanist. As a soloist, Joanna has performed most of the major cello concertos with various orchestras in the UK. In addition, she has played with the Irish Chamber Orchestra and been the leader of the European Cello Academy, a 12 cello orchestra based in Denmark. This group has given concerts all over South America and Northern Europe, performing many original works commissioned by the ensemble’s director, Hans Erik Deckert. From 1995 to 2009, Joanna was half of the cello duo, Duo Cellissimo. Again, she and her partner commissioned a number of original works which they performed across Europe and the United States. For the last twenty years, Joanna has dedicated herself to continuing the work of her father at the Andreas Nicolaou School of Music. She is passionate about nurturing the musical development of all her pupils, many of whom study with her from the age of 3 until they leave for university at 18. It gives her immense joy observing the development of these young people, all of whom go on to keep music in their lives, whether professionally or just for their own enjoyment.