Born in London, Nicolas Hodges sang in the choir of Christ Church, Oxford, before later studying at Cambridge University. He has forged a career as a pianist specialising in contemporary music and has commissioned concertos by composers including Thomas Adès, Elliott Carter, Gerald Barry and Harrison Birtwistle, who once described him as ‘like my Peter Pears’. He is currently based in Germany, where he is a professor of piano at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart.
ike most pianists, I