Nigel Shore
The British musician Nigel Shore studied at the Royal Academy of Music London (with Celia Nicklin, oboe and Hamish Milne, piano) and the University of London, graduating with three 1st class honours diplomas in oboe, piano and musicology, and was also awarded the coveted Queen’s Commendation of Excellence as best student of the year. He then moved to Berlin and spent two formative years studying with Hansjörg Schellenberger and four further years playing with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Herbert von Karajan und Claudio Abbado before becoming principal oboe at the Komische Oper Berlin. For 22 years, he was also principal oboe of the Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Chamber Orchestra, which specialised in early Classical repertoire under the direction of Hartmut Haenchen.
As a soloist, Nigel Shore has performed regularly in Japan, the Middle East, North, South and Central America, Russia and throughout Europe, with artists such as Hartmut Haenchen, Frank-Peter Zimmermann, Peter Schreier and Jochen Kowalski.
Nigel Shore is a founding member of The Berlin Oboe Quartet, KO5 (the wind quintet of the Komische Oper Berlin) and of Trianche, a Berlin-Los Angeles based wind trio. He is also a regular guest of the Scharoun Ensemble, Spectrum Concerts Berlin and the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet.
Having spent several years living in Brazil, Nigel Shore is particularly interested in the music of Latin America, and in breaking down the boundaries between classical music and other styles. He has recorded Brazilian popular music for oboe for Costa Records (Clouds of Rain), as well as Mexican Boleros with Rolando Villazón (¡México!) and classically inspired songs with Tori Amos (Night of Hunters) for Deutsche Grammophon, both of which were awarded an Echo Klassik prize. His CD Phantasy with The Berlin Oboe Quartet, featuring British quartets for oboe and strings, has been released by Costa Records.
As well as being an internationally renowned oboist, Nigel Shore has composed and arranged from a young age. Alongside his oboe and piano studies at the Royal Academy of Music, he gained a BMus degree from the University of London in musicology and composition techniques.
Throughout his career as an oboist, Nigel Shore has made arrangements for his own chamber ensembles as well as for chamber orchestras and latin jazz groups. He is equally at home with classical, film and latin jazz genres.
Drawing on his extensive experience as principal oboist in all three of Berlin’s opera orchestras, Nigel is particularly adept at making chamber transcriptions of operas, as well as chamber music and wind serenades based on operas. His transcriptions to date include works by Bizet, Britten, Dvořák, Mascagni, Massenet, Puccini, Rossini and Strauss.