Nicholas Swensen

Conductor

Nicholas Swensen is a Danish violist and conductor, winner of the Juilliard Viola Competition in 2021, the Léonie Sonning Talent Prize, and the DR P2 talent prize. He has taken major prizes at viola competitions in Los Angeles, Prague, and Berlin, and has performed as a soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra and Odense Symphony Orchestra, and played chamber music with Sir András Schiff, Gidon Kremer, and Christian Tetzlaff. He studied at the Juilliard School as a Kovner Fellow and is currently part of the Kronberg Academy Professional Studies under Tabea Zimmermann. Increasingly active as a conductor, he has studied with Jorma Panula and Fabio Luisi, and was selected for the Danish national conductor talent programme Dirigentløftet in 2024.

Nicholas Swensen first conducted the Iceland Symphony Orchestra as part of the Dirigentløftet programme and returns in 2025 to conduct the orchestra's Christmas concert.