Nicolas Vérin (1958)
Nicolas Vérin -
Biographie
In today's music Nicolas
Vérin has an original and unusual
voice.
Pop guitarist at thirteen, jazz pianist but also a student in
physics and musicology at Paris Universities, and in music at
the Conservatories of St Maur, Brest and at the Paris
Conservatory (with Pierre
Schaeffer and Guy
Reibel), he spent five years in
the
USA, coming back with a PhD in composition from the University
of California, San Diego (Roger
Reynolds, Jean-Charles
François, F.R.
Moore, Joji
Yuasa,
Bernard
Rands,
Julio
Estrada, and Gordon
Mumma) .
Impassioned with musical gesture and the life of sounds, he explores
in a singular manner his fascination for time and its complexity.
He draws in this large and open field a plurality of languages,
a synthesis beyond dogmas and fashions, that feed his inspiration.
His compositions keep forcefully this very actual challenge.
Nicolas Vérin was composer-in-residence in the
Midi-Pyrénées
region (1993-95) and obtained twice the prix Villa Médicis
hors les murs (2001 and 2010). He collaborated with many composers and
institutions
among which Pierre
Henry, Vinko
Globokar, Michaël
Levinas, IRCAM,
Groupe
de Recherche Musicale (INA-GRM).
He
is professor
of composition and electroacoustic music at the Ecole
Nationale de Musique et de Danse in Evry,
near Paris. He is
also an improviser, giving concerts in particular with ensemble
Cécile, a duo with clarinetist Louis Sclavis.
His music, performed in many concerts and festivals in Europe
and the Americas, is published by Jobert-Lemoine and Dhalmann. Several
of his works
are available on CD :
4
pieces for soloists and electronics,
with Pilar Fontalba, Gérard Siracusa, Cécile
Daroux and
Jean-Paul Celea (INA-GRM 475-122) ; Chassés-croisés,
live
recording of solos and duos with Cécile Daroux, Nathalie
Vandebeulque, Anne Arrignon,
Sona Khochafian, Nathalie Chabot etc.
(NVCD 0301) ; In vino musica
in Musique des vignes, GMEA
MP01 (distr. Métamkine) ; Solo
Violin Piece I in
Dedications to János Négyesy, Neuma 450-95 ; Chassé-croisé
III in Contemporary Violin
duets, with János Négyesy
and Paiviki Nykter (AuCourants Records 0010-1)
Other main works : Di
un temporale... (orchestra
and
electronics)
State commission for the Orchestre Chalon-Bourgogne ; Projections
obliques
(fl. and cl. solo, ensemble and electr.), for
ensemble 2e2m ; Instabile
(ensemble and electr.),
State commission for Itinéraire ; Solid
Noid,
for piano, disklavier and electronics ; Interleaved
tracks,
for bass clarinet and electronics ; Winds cycle : P'hioni
(contrabass and tape), State commission, Khamsin
(drum
set and tape), commisson by Festival Why Note, Bora
(saxophone and tape), State commission, Chinook
(el.
guitar and tape) and Vents
du Monde
(sax., el. guit., cbass, drums and electronics) commission by
Radio-France ; Mariposa
clavada que medita su vuelo
(flute and tape), commission by
GRM ; Jardin
de acero
(soprano et ensemble,
poème de Lorca), State commission for
ensemble Aleph.