Nicholas Ashby is a member of The King’s Singers and has been singing pretty much constantly for as long as he can remember. He grew up in Oxford in an intensely musical environment – as a chorister with various choirs; playing violin and French horn in many youth orchestras and chamber groups; and with four older sisters, all also professional singers – so a career in music became inevitable.
Nick studied Music at the University of York and joined as many choirs and a cappella groups as possible, giving him the opportunity to start penning some compositions and arrangements, some more successful (Kiss from a rose) than others (Nessun Dorma)! He moved to London in 2009 and toured regularly over the next decade with the Tallis Scholars, Stile Antico, I Fagiolini, the BBC Singers, Ex Cathedra, and many more. He also performed oratorios and recitals as a soloist, and hugely enjoyed a memorable tour to Japan, performing Mozart’s Requiem with a Japanese choir and orchestra, and a concert of Purcell songs in a Buddhist temple.
In 2019 Nick was thrilled to join The King’s Singers, with whom he performs over 100 concerts a year. He finds one of the great pleasures of making music comes from the subconscious, unspoken connections with other musicians, and the synergy created in the blending of voices. The King’s Singers bring this pleasure to the fore, working tirelessly on every tiny musical detail in order to leave the stage each night proud of what they have achieved – all the while performing in amazing venues, and visiting beautiful countries all over the world.
Nick is delighted to be working with Petros Singers and believes the choir has a great ethos – “music-making for all the right reasons” – in particular the way it encourages and develops young singers through both its bursary scheme and its support of London Youth Choirs.