Born in Australia, Leanne Nicholls is the Founder, Artistic Director and Principal Oboist of City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong (CCOHK). She holds a Bachelor of Music degree (Hons) with First Class Honours in performance from The University of Adelaide where she was mentored by the legendary Czech-Australian oboist Jiří Tancibudek and the Australian soprano Gwenyth Annear. Her performing career includes engagements with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, the Adelaide Chamber Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Macao Orchestra, the RTHK Singers and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta (1993-1999). Her stage roles include Gilmer in Schwartz’s Godspell, Mrs Noye’s Gossip in Britten’s Noye’s Fludde and Miss Orb in Bug Symphony. For RTHK she is an occasional host on Radio 4‘s Morning Call and First Notes. Based in Hong Kong since 1989, Leanne Nicholls founded CCOHK on the cuff of producing the orchestra for Jackie Chan’s action-comedy film Twin Dragons. Since 1999 she has steered the orchestra’s artistic planning and curated all the subscription programmes. In tandem, she has created and produced numerous multi-media programmes for premiere in Hong Kong and on tour in London, Shanghai and Beijing. Her script-writing credits include the award-winning Bug Symphony (2015), Magnificent Mozart (2017), The Star Bach (2018), Vivaldi Unmasked (2018), The Bonn Man (2021), Haydn & The Prince (2023), Shark Symphony (2024) and WILD (The Musical) which won the Public Choice Award at the YAMawards 2022 in Belgium. In 2022 Leanne Nicholls received a commendation in the HKSAR’s Chief Executive’s Honours List for her contribution to the development of classical music in Hong Kong.

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“CCOHK may be Hong Kong’s most third culture arts institution, deeply mixed ethnically and led by the Australian-born, Cantonese-fluent Nicholls”

The Theatre Times (New York)