Biography

Since performing as a concerto soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at age 18, cellist Nicholas Finch has established himself as an artist of great depth and diversity, both within and beyond the classical genre, as both conductor and cellist. This season, Finch will lead the third year of the Derby City Chamber Music Festival as its Artistic Director, featuring some of the best chamber musicians from around the country, including members of the Escher String Quartet, the Dover Quartet, the Ehnes Quartet, the Seattle Chamber Music Society, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Manhattan Chamber Players. He will also lead the Derby City Sinfonietta as Conductor, in residence at the Derby City Chamber Music Festival, which in addition to the artists above has included members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Louisville Orchestra, and more.  He will also assume the artistic directorship of the NouLou Chamber Orchestra, in collaboration with the NouLou Chamber Players, beginning in September of 2024. He has additionally been featured as a guest conductor with the Louisville Orchestra. 

These past two seasons, as a cello soloist Finch recorded his debut album "Nou Edition" with the NouLou Chamber Players, featuring three world-premiere cello concertos written for him by composers Lev “Ljova” Zhurbin, Alyssa Weinberg, and Dorian Wallace, to be released in the spring of 2024 on the Bright Shiny Things label. He served as a secondary cello soloist with cellist Yo-Yo Ma in Teddy Abrams' 'Mammoth', performed by the Louisville Orchestra in Mammoth Cave National Park. He also performed the American premiere of Kelly-Marie Murphy's concerto for cello and harp with the Skagit Symphony in Mt. Vernon, Washington, in addition to appearances performing the Brahms Double Concerto. He served as cello artist-faculty at the Eastern Music Festival in the summers of 2022 and 2023. In the 2024-25 season, he will appear again as cello soloist with the Louisville Orchestra in Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Double Concerto.  Just months prior to COVID-19, he appeared as cello soloist in Richard Strauss's "Don Quixote" with the Louisville Orchestra.

Finch was appointed Principal Cellist of the Louisville Orchestra during the 2013-2014 season by music director Teddy Abrams. He has appeared with the Boston-based chamber orchestra ‘A Far Cry’ on numerous concerts and recordings, one recording having been nominated for a Grammy Award. He has additionally appeared numerous times with the Jupiter Chamber Players in New York City.

A native of Boston, Finch began his cello studies at the age of 12. He attended Harvard, Juilliard, the University of Michigan, and the Mannes College of Music, studying the cello with Andrew Mark, David Soyer, Harvey Shapiro, Richard Aaron, and Marcy Rosen. He has studied orchestral conducting with Markand Thakar, Kenneth Kiesler, and with Michael Jinbo and Ludovic Morlot at the Pierre Monteux School. During the 2023-24 season, Finch is on a leave of absence to attend the University of Michigan again, this time to earn a Master’s Degree in Orchestral Conducting.