Nicholas Olsen is a Composer and the Recruitment and Admissions Administrator based in the Academic Administration and Support office at the RCS and is the Elected Support Staff Governor.
Nicholas recently graduated with a first class honours degree from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where he studied under the tutelage of Gordon McPherson and Stuart MacRae. During his time at the Royal Conservatoire, he also studied the piano with Heather Slade-Lipkin. He has had other tuition including masterclasses and workshops with composers including Sir James MacMillan, and Alisdair Nicolson.
Upon graduating, Nicholas was awarded the Principal’s Prize for All Round Excellence in the School of Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Nicholas has worked with a number of internationally renowned ensembles and conductors including BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (Mark Heron), BBC National Orchestra of Wales (B Tommy Andersson), Ensemble Modern (Toby Thatcher), Glasgow New Music Expedition (Jessica Cottis), Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chorus (Gregory Batsleer), and Red Note Ensemble (Holly Mathieson).
In addition to his work as a composer, Nicholas has tutored composition in a variety of contexts, including at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Composition Summer School, and at the United World College of the Atlantic.
In 2018, Nicholas and composer Aidan Teplitzky founded The Hadit Collective, a new music ensemble based in Glasgow.
