Neil won his first National Piano Competition and this led to his further studies in London, at the Guildhall School of Music and Trinity College. His teachers included one of Britain’s foremost pianists, Philip Fowke and the Viennese pianist, Katrina Wolpe.

Neil’s first performance in the UK was in the presence of British Royalty and this led to further recitals in Europe. He has also produced a highly successful series of concerts in Oxford which included performances by the Oscar Award winning actress, Vanessa Redgrave, the British pianist Joanna Macgregor and the American clarinet, Gervase De Peyer (who holds the record of being the most recorded clarinetist in the world).

He has played with various orchestras and ensembles including the Mandarin, Wantage Symphony and St. Gyles and the London Concertante in aid of a village school in the West Khasi Hills District, Meghalaya, India.

In July 2004, Neil did his debut recital in Switzerland with the world renowned Fitzwilliam Quartet (who were close associates with the Russian composer Shostakovich). In the same year his concert at Warsaw for PLUS Television was relayed in Europe, Japan and America. His return to London with the Fitzwilliam included new pieces composed by Neil based on folk music from his own state, Meghalaya.

He has also gained popularity in India holding an audience of twelve thousand in rapture in Bangalore and in December 2004 he did a special concert in New Delhi in the presence of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh. His collaborations with many Indian artists includes an evening with the singer Alka Yagnik and Hari Haran.

In December 2005, Neil Nongkynrih was invited by the then President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam for a special Christmas programme at the Rashtrapati Bahvan, New Delhi. A Christmas Programme of Neil Nongkynrih was shot at NDTV 24x7 Studio.

As a composer, Neil has explored the various genres from the most simple to the avant garde. His Folk Opera “Sohlyngngem” got him a standing ovation in its premier in Geneva and three of his songs were premiered in July 2005 in Vienna and have been distributed by the United Nations to various agencies, as part of their anti drugs campaign.

He has also established himself as a versatile teacher, teaching an eclectic range of music. One of his very successful pupils is Philip Selway, a member of the popular Grammy Award winning British band, “Radiohead.”

In the year 2004, another one of his pupils from England Billy Harpin had been nominated for a Grammy in the Western Classical section. Other rock bands that he has collaborated with include the four time Grammy Award winners “Petra.”

He is the founder of the Shillong Chamber Choir and a project was taken up to make a documentary film about the Shillong Chamber Choir in November 2007.  The Public Diplomacy Division of The Ministry of External Affairs released a Documentary film called “The Shillong Chamber Choir and The little Home School” which was screened at the “10th ASIAN CINEFAN FESTIVAL” of Arab and Asian Cinema at the Taj Hotel, NewDelhi on at the India International Centre, New Delhi.

Neil as a music conductor has been the key instrument in training the members of the Shillong Chamber Choir to win 3 Gold awards for India at the World Choir Games (World Choir Olympics) in Shoaxing, China, 2010 in 3 categories in which they participated; Popular Music, Musica Sacra (Sacred) and Gospel. They also won the TV reality show India’s Got Talent 2, in October 2010. Later that year they were invited to perform for the then visiting President of United States of America, Barack Obama and the first lady Michelle Obama at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in November.