Born in Liverpool, Nicholas Mulroy read Modern Languages at Cambridge before postgraduate studies at Royal Academy of Music. He has appeared with many of the world’s leading ensembles, and has enjoyed many different approaches to music-making.
He is particularly noted for his lyrical and narrative interpretation of Bach’s music. Singing from memory, his performances as the Evangelist in the St Matthew Passions have been widely praised and was described by The Times as “a thing of wonder… Every phrase, every word was turned over carefully so as to heighten the storytelling.” Working with leading conductors and ensembles worldwide his highlights have included performances of the passions at the BBC Proms, Sydney Opera House and Bach’s two churches in Leipzig – the Thomaskirche and the Nikolaikirche.
Nicholas Mulroy has frequently sung with many leading early music ensembles, including a long association with John Butt and the Dunedin Consort. He has also worked regularly with the Gabrieli Consort, Monteverdi Choir, Concerto Copenhagen, Le Concert d’Astrée, Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Le Concert des Nations, Les Musiciens du Louvre, International Bachakademie Stuttgart and Handel and Haydn Society Boston. Other major orchestras he has appeared with include Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Concerrgebouworkest, St Paul Chamber Orchestra, Antwerp and Melbourne symphonies, Brussels and Copenhagen philharmonics, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Britten Sinfonia and Australian Chamber Orchestra.
He is devoted to recital repertoire, and has appeared regularly at the Wigmore Hall, in a wide range of music from Purcell’s Harmonia Sacra with regular collaborator Elizabeth Kenny, to songs by Schubert, Stephen Hough, and the complete Britten Canticles. He has also appeared frequently at the Lammermuir Festival and at the Bath, Ludlow, Maribor, St Magnus, and BRQ Festivals. His ongoing collaboration with guitarist/theorbist Toby Carr explores a rare combination of music from two golden ages – 17th-century Europe and 20th Century Latin America and will be released on disc in 2024.
His extensive discography includes music across seven centuries, including the St Matthew Passion and a Gramophone Award-winning Messiah with Dunedin Consort.
He has made three recordings of the St John Passion (Dunedin Consort, Concerto Copenhagen and Polyphony/OAE) and five of the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610. Away from the baroque he has recorded Stravinsky with Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Piazzolla’s María de Buenos Aires with Mr McFall’s Chamber.
In recent years, Nicholas Mulroy has enjoyed success in directing, including several choral programmes, as well as Bach’s St Matthew Passion at Wigmore Hall and a curated programme of Bach, Purcell and Latin American music with Aurora Orchestra. In 2020, he was appointed Associate Director of the Dunedin Consort.
He is a Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, and a Musician in Residence at Girton College, Cambridge.
