After a substantial career in the choirs of English cathedrals and schools, conductor Benjamin Nicholas was appointed as chief conductor of the Oxford Bach Choir in 2018. Within the essentially conservative milieu of cathedral choral music, Nicholas has been unusually supportive of contemporary music: he directed the premiere of the opera Good Friday by John Caldwell and led further performances of the work, including a recording that became the Classic FM radio network's opera recording of the month in 2000. With both the Tewkesbury Cathedral choirs and the Choir of Merton College, Oxford, Nicholas made critically well-received albums, including a 2019 reading of The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by composer Gabriel Jackson. In 2022, he led the Choir of Merton College, Oxford, on a recording of the Requiem by Ian Venables.