A French composer born January 1st, 1950 in Briançon.
A pianist by training, Nicolas Frize also studied singing and choral conducting. He was a pupil of Pierre Schaeffer in the electroacoustic composition class at the Paris Conservatory, and was then assistant to John Cage in New York, on the occasion of a ‘Villa Medici fuori i muri’ bursary. Since 1975 he he has directed the association Les Musiques de la boulangère with which, in the service of contemporary music, he works to devise, create, produce, promote and train.
Frize has composed orchestral, instrumental, choral, electroacoustic and mixed works. He often brings together professionals and non-musicians or amateurs by using both traditional and graphic notation (Concert de baisers for 300 instrumentalists kissing, 1983, Concert de timbres, 1986; Elle est belle, opera for children, soloists, chorus and small ensemble, 1985). He has innovated with bold instrumental combinations, objects used in unusual ways, incorporating his compositions into particular venues and circumstances (Concert de pierres for percussion, child sopranos and instruments made from lithic samples, 1986; Concert de haine for choral singers, instrumentalists and tape, at the Palais de la Justice in Paris, 1986; Concert de locomotives for motors of the SNCF, singers, soprano, piano, percussion, station master and accessories, at the Gare de Lyon, 1988; Chaos à quai, electroacoustic piece for Aurillac station, 2011).
Nicolas Frize has also composed for the stage, dance, the cinema and video, notably to external commission.