Biography

Nico Buri is one of the most exciting young Swiss guitarists of his generation. Born in Zurich, he began playing the classical guitar at the age of 9 and his fascination for the instrument and its endless possibilities has grown ever since. At the age of 17 he was accepted into the class of world-renowned guitarist Craig Ogden at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and started studying there in September 2019. During his second year, Nico achieved extraordinary success by becoming a finalist in the RNCM Gold Medal Competition, which is open to the whole undergraduate and postgraduate student body. He is the only guitarist in the college’s history to have reached the finals of this most prestigious competition in just his second undergraduate year. 

Nico has also achieved success in his home country, winning First Prize in the Swiss Youth Music Competition in 2017 and 2021. In 2020 he was awarded Third Prize in the final of the 17th Altamira International Guitar Competition in Italy and in 2022 he was a prize winner at the Groningen International Guitar competition. Nico has performed in masterclasses with Rafael Aguirre, Marco Tamayo, Zoran Dukic, Thomas Müller Pering, Marcin Dylla, Lorenzo Micheli, Aniello Desiderio, Alvaro Pierri,  Judicaël Perroy and many more. Prior to coming to the UK, Nico performed with the successful Swiss Youth Guitar Ensemble for over five years, touring through Germany, Spain, Poland and the Netherlands. In 2022, he performed Rodrigo’s “Fantasia para un gentilhombre” as a soloist with the LGT Young Soloists in Bangkok and in the Victoria Hall in Singapore.

Currently in his fourth year at the RNCM, Nico is in increasing demand as both soloist and chamber musician. He achieved the highest ever mark for a guitar recital both in his second and third year with the panel commenting on his “Exceptionally idiomatic, creative and spontaneous playing” and “exhilarating, virtuosic playing with superb articulation”.  Nico’s solo programmes explore some of the richest diversity within the classical guitar repertoire, from the solo violin sonatas and partitas of J.S.Bach through to substantial works by composers including Schubert, Rodrigo, Regondi, Villa-Lobos and Ponce. With his fellow RNCM colleague, the British guitarist Tom Dale, he has a guitar duo which has gained attention and acclaim for performances at various venues across the country. Tom and Nico are expanding their repertoire as a duo through perfecting established repertoire while also collaborating with composers to create an exciting new body of work for two guitars.

Nico plays a 2018 Kirschner Double-Top guitar.