the conductor

Harald Nickoll was born in Aachen and studied choir and orchestra conducting, guitar and viola da gamba as majors as well as piano and singing at the conservatory of Rhineland. In 1983 he founded the chamber choir Carmina Mundi (Aachen). He complemented his education with master classes by Uwe Grotestay, Helmut Rilling, Eric Ericson, Dan Olof Stenlund, Kurt Suttner and Carl Hoegst.

In addition to his commitment to Carmina Mundi Nickoll is conductor of ”Collegium Byzantinum”, an Aachen based ensemble specialized in Romanian-Byzantine choral music, and until 1994 he also conducted the ”Niederrheinisches Vocalensemble Duisburg”. Until his retirement, Harald Nickoll was Director of the Aachen Music School.

With Carmina Mundi he published numerous CDs (with the labels ebs-records, audite and Dabringhaus & Grimm) that were well received internationally.

Concerts at home and abroad, recordings for the radio, debut performances and premier recordings, several prizes at international competitions, and the winning title in the German federal contest held in Kiel in 2006 document his success with Carmina Mundi.

He is regularly invited to be a lecturer on the subjects of choir conducting, vocal training and “just intonation”.

For many years Harald Nickoll has concentrated on phenomena of sound and harmony such as sound density, sustainability, tone and conveyance. He has developed and constantly refines and applies special training programmes for choral vocal and listening techniques.

As initiator and co-founder of the International Choir Biennial which takes place every second year in Aachen, he is an active member of the artistic advisory board.