James Nicholas (b. 1957) received his doctorate, two master’s degrees, and the coveted Performer’s Certificate from Indiana University, where his cello instructors were Éva Czakó-Janzer, János Starker, and Helga Winold, and where he also pursued the study of the languages, cultures, and history of Central and Eastern Europe. He is particularly interested in historical performance styles, and has collaborated with many of the foremost authorities in early music performance today. A composer and editor, he has published several original works for the natural horn as well as articles on historic performance styles, scholarly editions of Baroque and Early Classical music for strings, and reconstructions of two unfinished Mozart horn concerti. A translator of French, German, Czech, Slovak, and Hungarian, he combined his musical and linguistic experience in coaching the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus in Old Church Slavonic for its millennium performance of Leoš Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass. Recently, he has created the first English-language setting of the traditional music of the Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Church.

Jim earned his state Firefighter I and II certifications at the Connecticut Fire Academy, and has been a member of the Rocky Hill, Connecticut, Fire Department since 2004.