We sat down for an exclusive interview with British pianist Beatrice Nicholas.
Beatrice Nicholas will be performing on 17th August at Ronnie Scott’s – Tickets here.
Your performances move fluidly between classical repertoire and jazz improvisation — what first inspired you to bring those worlds together in your work?
I grew up with an eclectic mix of music around me — classical, jazz and gospel piano lessons, songwriting for bands, and picking up folk songs from my sister, who was learning from an Irish fiddler. But when I got to music college, the rigour of training to be a concert pianist and my passion for classical music became all-consuming.
Then last spring, Louis Cole invited me to play in his orchestral show. He’s a multi-instrumentalist who blends jazz, rock, classical, metal and soul in a mind-blowing way. I’d already been mixing classical and jazz in some of my concerts, but after playing with Louis I started writing classical-jazz fusion.
I love that Ronnie Scott’s is bringing the worlds of jazz and classical together. I’m excited to bring my show to Upstairs at Ronnie’s this August.
This programme celebrates pioneering African American women composers such as Hazel Scott and Florence Price — what drew you to their music and stories in particular
The first time I saw footage of 1940s pianist Hazel Scott, she was improvising with insane virtuosity, looking straight down the camera with a huge grin whilst spinning between two grand pianos on a swivel chair. She was a child prodigy who got into New York’s Juilliard School at just eight years old, and as a teenager was mentored by both Billie Holiday and Art Tatum.
To me, she was a total visionary — someone who merged all her different musical influences to create something completely new. What’s been really interesting for me is discovering how many African American women composers between the 1920s and 1950s were blending jazz, classical music, West African musical traditions and spirituals together in their work.
That’s why I’ve built a programme around African American women composers.
Reimagining composers like Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt through a jazz lens requires both precision and freedom — how do you approach that balance in performance?
Precision is something I work on a lot at home. But when I leave the house and get in the room with other musicians, that’s when the freedom really opens up and things become more fluid. I love playing this show with Matyas Hoffecker on bass and Matt Home on drums. There’s a really strong sense of trust between us on stage, we know we can be free because we’ve got each other’s backs.
Your EP Black and Classical shines a light on underrepresented composers — how important is it for you to use performance as a form of cultural rediscovery and advocacy?
I tell the stories behind the music when I perform because facts can really rebalance perspectives. Florence Price, one of the first major African American women symphonic composers to be recognised, was born just a couple of decades after the abolition of slavery in the US — and yet managed to have her music performed by major American orchestras in the 1930s.
One of the most famous touring pianists in 1870s America was actually Blind Tom Wiggins, a Black, blind virtuoso who had been born into slavery. And Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata was originally dedicated to George Bridgetower, a Black European virtuoso violinist who premiered the work with him.
Having performed in venues ranging from Wigmore Hall to Southbank Centre, how does the atmosphere of a venue shape the energy and spontaneity of your playing?
The atmosphere of a venue can completely shape a performance. Venues like Wigmore Hall have an exceptional acoustic and a wonderful Steinway grand, so it becomes very easy to produce a beautiful range of colour and sound. By contrast, outdoor festivals often have a more energetic and spontaneous atmosphere; audiences arrive already excited, and the performance can become far more collaborative between the artist and the audience.
Jazz and classical music are often presented as separate traditions — what do you think audiences discover when they hear the two forms in conversation with one another?
Audiences find classical–jazz fusion exciting because they get everything at once — something deep, beautiful and still completely toe-tapping.
In many places, jazz and classical music have been presented as separate worlds, but the reality is that many jazz legends have also been first-rate classical musicians — Nina Simone, Hazel Scott, Duke Ellington and Wynton Marsalis, to name a few.