Born in London to parents of Ghanaian and Scottish descent, Nicola Tagoe is a classically-trained flute player. Nicola has performed as a soloist, in orchestras, with chamber ensembles and bands at venues including St John’s, Smith Square; Savill Garden, Windsor; Roundhouse, Camden; Hackney Empire; Oxford House; The Albany, Deptford; RichMix; Red Gallery, Shoreditch; Oliver’s Jazz Bar and the Spice of Life. Festivals include British Isles Music Festival and Early Bloom Festival, as well as Galicia Music Festival and Zenobia Music Festival in Spain.
Nicola has collaborated with guitarist Ahmed Dickinson Cardenas, performing music by Cuban and Latin composers (listen here). Further appearances have included celebration events for Black Woman in the Arts and Black History Studies featuring classical music by composers of African descent, gigs with Dutch singer-songwriter, Maaike Siegerist, and recitals with pianist, Stavroula Thoma.
Nicola studied the bansuri (Hindustani bamboo) flute with specialist, Clive Bell, at The Bhavan Centre. She has since collaborated with the Live Literature Company, playing improvised music tailored to accompany a staged production of Rabindranath Tagore’s The Post Office, showing at the British Library Theatre and the Nehru Centre (Indian High Commission). Nicola was also invited to feature on the track ‘Doli’ by Indian classical vocalist, Rani Juttla.
Nicola attended the Centre for Young Musicians (CYM) for three years, before travelling to Northern Spain, where she continued her music studies at the Escola Municipal de Musica de Oleiros. She has performed in masterclasses to international flautists including Wissam Boustany, Susan Milan, Sam Coles and Gareth Davies, and received performance coaching from contemporary pianist Leon Michener. Nicola graduated from Royal Holloway, University of London, in 2010, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Solo Performance, and a Master’s Degree in Ethnomusicology.
If you like the sound of anything mentioned above, get in touch to discuss performance bookings or ideas for creative collaboration.