Leanne Nicholls graduated from the University of Adelaide in Australia with First Class Honours in performance and has been involved in performing and promoting classical music in Hong Kong for over 20 years. She is also a trained classical singer, having been the recipient of scholarship prizes in voice at the University of Adelaide where she performed as soloist in operas, chamber choirs and masterclasses given by world-class singers such as Dame Joan Hammond. Throughout her career Leanne has performed as an oboist with all the leading orchestras in Adelaide and Hong Kong. She has given numerous recitals and concerts in Adelaide, Europe and Asia and sang for several years as a member of the RTHK Singers. In 1999 Leanne founded the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong (CCOHK) to fulfill the need for a professional-level orchestra in Hong Kong devoted to the performance of small-scale chamber orchestral works. Her vision and her unwavering dedication to diversifying and developing the performance opportunities for Hong Kong-based musicians, has resulted in an orchestra of reputable status, constantly acclaimed by the critics for its innovative programming. Besides classical repertoire, the CCOHK has been at the forefront in giving baroque concerts, programmes of modern Chinese music and crossover programmes.

On the educational front, Leanne has initiated and produced numerous children’s productions in Hong Kong, many of them world premieres combining the orchestra with story-tellers, film, dancers, singers and children as soloists. As a result of her pioneer work in this area, hundreds of children as young as three have been able to enjoy the sound of the orchestra for the first time. Her other initiatives include a wind bags programme which tours schools in the territory introducing woodwind instruments to primary school children. Leanne is also a dedicated oboe teacher. Her students have won numerous prizes in the HKSMSF competitions and occupy positions in the major youth orchestras in the territory, and in professional orchestras abroad. She has also presented and hosted numerous classical music programmes on RTHK Radio 4.

Since 1999 Leanne has devoted her professional life to the CCOHK and leads a demanding schedule as the orchestra’s artistic director, programmer and principal oboist. Fluent in Cantonese, Leanne lives in Hong Kong with her husband John Nicholls and their two children Jonathan & Harry. She has served on the advisory board for RTHK Radio 4 and as chairman of the board for Friends of Radio 4 Society.