Nicholas Baldock
violone
Nicholas Baldock was born in Brighton, England in 1959. His musical education started with the violin at the age of ten before he changed to the Double Bass when he was thirteen ("due to a very pretty teacher..."). His classical training on the Double Bass was with Gerald Drucker (Principal Bassist with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London) and he gained the Diploma from the National Centre for Orchestral Studies (London University) in 1982. Parallel he studied Violone with Francis Baines. The following six years was spent playing free-lance in London.
Since 1988 Nicholas has lived and worked in Germany, working as one of the few specialist string makers for gut strings (used for authentic early music practise) and continued to gain a high reputation in a variety of musical fields, ranging from Early Music on original instruments, to Symphony orchestras, Opera, Chamber music,and Improvisation in Jazz and Folk groups. He is seen performing throughout Europe with musicians such as John Holloway, Simon Standage, Bobby Mc Ferrin, Omara Portuondo (Buena Vista Social Club) and Giora Feidmann.
As well as his work as a bassist and string maker Nicholas is the founder and musical director of the internationally famous group "Katzenelnbogen Kazoo Kwartet" with No.1 hits in Cambodia, The Dominican Republic and The Vatican City.
