Our next concert (5th July 2026) features guest Oboist, Nicola Hands. Nicola Hands is a busy freelance oboist based in London, whose playing is ‘penetrating, elegant and wonderfully flexible’, and whose ‘warm, full tone is affecting’. Born in Nottingham in 1987, she graduated in 2013 with Distinction from the Royal Academy of Music Masters programme, where she studied oboe with Melanie Ragge and cor anglais with Jill Crowther. At the RAM Nicola was awarded the Evelyn Barbirolli prize for oboe and the Grimaldi Cor Anglais Scholarship.
Nicola is currently on trial as principal oboe with English National Ballet, and has previously trialled with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra. From 2015 to 2017 she was the 2nd oboe and principal cor anglais player for the Orquestra do Norte, Portugal. As a freelancer Nicola has performed with English National Opera, Chineke!, Aurora Orchestra, Orchestra of the Swan, City of London Sinfonia, Wexford Festival Opera, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Ballet Sinfonia, Orchestra Nova, and the Brigantes Orchestra amongst others. Nicola also plays for musical theatre; from September 2013 to February 2014 she was the oboe and cor anglais player for ‘The Light Princess’ by Tori Amos at the National Theatre, and she played for ‘Miss Saigon’ in the Prince Edward Theatre.