Born in Bishop Auckland, Nicholas Kilburn was an iron merchant in Sunderland as well as being an accomplished musician and composer. He graduated from Cambridge in 1880, and served as conductor with the Bishop Auckland Musical Society from 1875, the Middlesbrough Musical Union from its foundation in 1882, and the Sunderland Philharmonic Society from 1886. His position allowed him considerable freedom in arranging programmes and he introduced many new works. His attendance at the main music festivals at home and abroad (including Bayreuth) enabled him to keep in close touch with current musical trends. According to Sir Timothy Eden, Kilburn 'with his enthusiasm, his friendship with the great artists of his time, and his gracious manners, did much to arouse the interest of this county in good music.' One of Kilburn's sons played the viola in the London Symphony Orchestra; the other was reputed to be the best clarinet player in England.
Kilburn became a close friend of Sir Edward Elgar (q.v.) and conducted all his great works from King Olaf (1897) onwards. He was present at the first performance of Caractacus in London in 1898. The day he completed The Dream of Gerontius Elgar wrote to Kilburn: 'I think you will find Gerontius far beyond anything I have yet done... I have written my own heart's blood into the score.' Elgar used to visit Kilburn, whom he called 'my great auk', at 'Ninefields' his house, now demolished, in Bishop Auckland. After a concert in Sunderland on 1 November 1910, where Elgar conducted the Hallé Orchestra in The Banner of St George, three songs from Sea Pictures and the Wand of Youth suite, he wrote to Kilburn:

'My dear Great Auk,
             I am hoping that the evening was considered on the whole a success. I wanted it to be and did what I could with a very loving heart and wish I could have done more to show what I think of you and your manifold good works.'

He did, in fact, dedicate The Music Makers (1912) to 'My friend Nicholas Kilburn' , who conducted it with the Bishop Auckland Music Society a few months after the first performance in Birmingham. Kilburn wrote to Elgar about the moral power of music, especially that of Elgar himself, and received a letter of 26 March 1913 which began:

'You talk mystically as becomes you and your northern atmosphere. I cannot follow you. I could have done a few years back...'

On 2 December 1919, Elgar conducted the Leeds Symphony Orchestra at the Bishop Auckland Town Hall in a programme which included The Music Makers. Mrs Kilburn sang as a contralto in the chorus.