Nicolas Hodges is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

 and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

. He specializes in avant garde music. He was educated at Christ Church Cathedral School

Christ Church Cathedral School

Christ Church Cathedral School is a Prep and Pre-Prep, fee-paying boarding and day school for approximately 140 pupils based in Oxford, England. Steeped in music and history, the School was founded by Henry VIII in 1546 to provide choristers for Christ Church Cathedral and College. Now a Church of...

, Oxford, Winchester College

Winchester College

Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...

, and the University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

.

Hodges studied the piano with Robert Bottone at Winchester, and subsequently with Susan Bradshaw

Susan Bradshaw

Susan Bradshaw was a British pianist, teacher and writer. She was mainly associated with contemporary music, and especially with the work of Pierre Boulez, several of whose writings she translated...

 and Sulamita Aronovsky

Sulamita Aronovsky

Sulamita Aronovsky, born in Lithuania, is a classical pianist and piano teacher who spent her formative years in Russia, moving to London in 1971.Her teachers include Lev Barenboim, Abram Schatzkes, Grigory Ginsburg and Alexander Goldenweiser....

; he studied composition with Michael Finnissy

Michael Finnissy

Michael Finnissy is an English composer and pianist. His music is characterised by the range of extremes often found in his work; opposing binary structures are found commonly, often seen as juxtaposing textures, register and tempi...

 and Robin Holloway

Robin Holloway

Robin Greville Holloway is an English composer.-Early life:From 1952 to 1957, he was a chorister at St Paul's Cathedral...

, but now concentrates on performing and teaching.

Many composers have written works for Hodges to perform, notably Elliott Carter

Elliott Carter

Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music...

 (Dialogues for Piano and Orchestra, 2003), Salvatore Sciarrino

Salvatore Sciarrino

Salvatore Sciarrino is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:In his youth, Sciarrino was attracted to the visual arts, but began experimenting with music when he was twelve. Though he had some lessons from Antonino Titone and Turi Belfiore, he is primarily self-taught as a...

, James Clarke

James Clarke (composer)

James Clarke is an English composer sometimes associated with the New Complexity school.-Education:According to fellow English composer and music scholar Christopher Fox, in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "After studying at Southampton University and City University, London,...

, Michael Finnissy

Michael Finnissy

Michael Finnissy is an English composer and pianist. His music is characterised by the range of extremes often found in his work; opposing binary structures are found commonly, often seen as juxtaposing textures, register and tempi...

, and Konrad Boehmer

Konrad Boehmer

Konrad Boehmer is a Dutch composer and writer of German birth.Boehmer was born in Berlin. His music reflects his Marxist political agenda, which is made explicit in many of his writings from the late 1960s and 1970s...

.

Hodges has recorded music by many contemporary and recent composers. His first CD was of the complete piano works of Bill Hopkins

Bill Hopkins

G.W. Hopkins was a British composer, pianist and music critic.Hopkins was born in Prestbury, Cheshire and educated at Rossall School, Lancashire; his mother's learning difficulties meant she was unable to look after him, and he was raised by aunts...

, and he has also recorded music by Adams, Finnissy

Michael Finnissy

Michael Finnissy is an English composer and pianist. His music is characterised by the range of extremes often found in his work; opposing binary structures are found commonly, often seen as juxtaposing textures, register and tempi...

, Birtwistle

Harrison Birtwistle

Sir Harrison Paul Birtwistle CH is a British contemporary composer.-Life:Birtwistle was born in Accrington, a mill town in Lancashire some 20 miles north of Manchester. His interest in music was encouraged by his mother, who bought him a clarinet when he was seven, and arranged for him to have...

, Connolly

Justin Connolly

Justin Connolly is a British composer and teacher.He was educated at Westminster School, and then briefly studied law at the Middle Temple before deciding on a career in music...

, Ferneyhough

Brian Ferneyhough

Brian John Peter Ferneyhough is an English composer. His music is characterized by the extensive use of complex rhythmic tuplet notation which features in all his works...

, Carter, Boehmer

Konrad Boehmer

Konrad Boehmer is a Dutch composer and writer of German birth.Boehmer was born in Berlin. His music reflects his Marxist political agenda, which is made explicit in many of his writings from the late 1960s and 1970s...

, and many others.

Since April 2005 Hodges has been Professor of Piano at the Musikhochschule, Stuttgart. He is married to the singer Kirsten Blaise, and they have a son and a daughter.

External links

• Nicolas Hodges' website
• Two reviews of Hodges' concerts in The Guardian
  The Guardian
  The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
  
  : http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/critic/review/0,1169,1530880,00.html and http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/reviews/story/0,11712,977231,00.html