biography

© Hoshiko Hiromi    

Ranging from solo instrumental pieces to large orchestral works and multimedia, Nicolaou´s compositions have been commissioned and  performed by some of the world’s leading ensembles including the Ensemble Modern, Ensemble intercontemporain, Ensemble Musikfabrik, London Sinfonietta, New World Symphony, Ensemble Schwerpunkt, Das Neue Ensemble, MAM. Manufaktur für Aktuelle Musik, International Ensemble Modern Academy, Helsinki Chamber Choir, Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble, Tana Quartet, LUX:NM, Norrbotten Neo, International Contemporary Ensemble and the Münster Opera.  

Further institutions that commissioned his music include the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, Kunststiftung NRW, Onassis Foundation, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Kölner Philharmonie, Gürzenich Orchestra, Südwestrundfunk, IRCAM, ZKM, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Aldeburgh Festival and The Pharos Foundation.

Vassos Nicolaou has been the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships from institutions such as the German Academy Villa Massimo (Rome Prize 2015), Civitella Ranieri Foundation, International Ensemble Modern Academy, Herrenhaus Edenkoben (upon recommendation of Peter Eötvös), Athens Megaron, the Weimar Academy of Music – (Franz Liszt Fellowship) and the Cité des Arts in Paris. In 2005 he was awarded the “Bernd Alois Zimmermann Fellowship” from the City of Cologne. In 2007 a jury which included Pierre Boulez and Wolfgang Rihm selected Nicolaou for the prestigious “Giga-Hertz-Special-Award” and for the following two seasons he was a composing fellow at ZKM in Karlsruhe.  In 2008 he was awarded the Tremplin commission by the reading panel of IRCAM and Ensemble intercontemporain. In 2009 he was composer-in-research at IRCAM and creator-in-residence at the Tokyo Wonder Site.

His compositions have been performed in venues and festivals such as the Philharmonie Berlin, Barbican Centre- London, Auditorium Parco della Musica – Rome, New World Center - Miami, Musiikkitalo - Helsinki, Megaro - Athens, Arsenal - Metz, Musik der Zeit, Ultraschall Berlin, Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, Klangspuren Schwaz, Time of Music Festival - Viitasaari and the Aldeburgh Festival.

Nicolaou has collaborated among others with conductors Peter Eötvös, Susanne Blumenthal, Beat Furrer, Johannes Kalitzke, Michael Linville, Sian Edwards, Franck Ollu, Jonathan Stockhammer, Konstantia Gourzi, Stephan Meier, Catherine Larsen-Maguire, James Wood and Emilio Pomarico.  

He has composed solo works for Tamara Stefanovich, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Johannes Schwarz, Jonas Olsson, Claudia Chan, Valentin Garvie, Isang Enders, Daniel Ciampolini, Lorenzo Soules, Saar Berger and Dimitri Vassilakis.

He regularly performs himself the live electronic parts of his mixed pieces in venues such as the Cologne Philharmonie, Centre Pompidou in Paris, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ in Amsterdam, IRCAM l'Espace de projection and Musée d´Orsay in Paris, ZKM: Zentrum für Kunst und Medien in Karlsruhe, Villa Massimo in Rome and Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal / WDR in Cologne.

Vassos Nicolaou studied at the Music Universities of Cologne and Frankfurt, the Paris Conservatory and IRCAM, working with York Höller, Marco Stroppa, Marc-André Dalbavie, Philippe Leroux and Beat Furrer. He has also participated in master-classes at Centre Acanthes, International Eötvös Institute and Aldeburgh with Louis Andriessen, Tristan Murail, Jonathan Harvey, Peter Eötvös and Brian Ferneyhough.

In February 2025, Nicolaou was appointed Professor of Composition at the Joseph Haydn Privathochschule in Eisenstadt, Austria.

 contact: vassos_nicolaou@hotmail.com 

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