Chris Nicholls was born in 1971 in Croydon, Surrey. He was a music scholar at Shrewsbury School where he studied violin under Hamish Drummond and, later, Howard Davis. He was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain for two years and a founder member of the National Youth Chamber Orchestra of Great Britain. In 1989 he accepted an exhibition to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London, continuing for a further two years in the class of Howard Davis and also performing in master classes with Zakhar Bron, Ida Haendel, Ruggiero Ricci, members of the Amadeus Quartet, the Haydn Trio of Vienna, Joseph Seiger and Alexander Baillie. In 1991 he moved to Salzburg where he continues to study with Riggiero Ricci, and he has since begun an international career as soloist and Chamber musician, playing throughout England, Europe and Scandinavia. Chris Nicholls has so far appeared on one commercial recording playing music by Bernard van Dieren, but this is his first recital disc. He plays a violin made by Lorenzo Storioni in Cremona in 1796 and wishes to thank the Claudio Abbado European Young Musicians' Trust Fund for their financial assistance in the matter.