Nicola Loud (born 1975) is a British violinist who, in 1990 at the age of 15, became BBC Young Musician of the Year.

[citation needed] From London she went to study in New York City with Cho-Liang Lin at the Juilliard School of Music.

In 2001 she created her one-woman show which features a wide range of repertoire including classical, jazz and film music.

As a past winner, she was also featured in a documentary celebrating 30 years of the competition, and provided the commentary for the Eurovision Young Musicians 2008 program on BBC Four.

[citation needed] In 2012, Loud married former MP Rupert Allason, who writes about espionage under the pen name Nigel West.