Vassos Nikolaou

Born in Cyprus in 1971, Vassos Nicolaou started playing piano at the age of nine and began composing almost immediately. As a student of musicology, composition, electronic music and orchestration, he attended the University of Thessaloniki, the Academies of Music in Cologne and Frankfurt, the Paris Conservatory and Ircam.

Vassos Nicolaou has been the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships from institutions such as the International Ensemble Modern Academy, Herrenhaus Edenkoben, the Weimar Academy of Music - (Franz Lizst Scholarship), Megaro Moussikis Athens, and the Cyprus Ministry of Culture (Composition Prize in 2001 & 2005.)

In 2004-05, he was at artist-in-residence in the Cité des Arts, Paris and in the autumn of 2005, he was awarded the "Bernd Alois Zimmermann Prize" 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 for Electronic Music" and for the following two seasons, he was a composing fellow at the Centre for Art and Media (ZKM) in Karslruhe. Currently he is an associate composer at Ircam in the the Centre Pompidou, Paris Ranging from solo instrumental pieces to large orchestral works, Nicolaou´s compositions have been performed by some of the world's leading ensembles.

"In my works I explore virtuosity and ways of mixing instrumental and electronic sounds. I am trying to create pieces which are like living organisms."

His compositions range from solo instrumental pieces to large orchestral works, often including electronics. He has been composer in residence at ZKM in Karlruhe and at Ircam Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Genre
Classical	20th Century
21st Century/Contemporary

Categories
Composer