Nicolas Vérin

At the basis of his work are the musical gesture and the life of sound and its morphology. An improviser himself, his works often leave a creative space for performers, and he has collaborated on many occasions with famous improvisers. Vérin received commissions from the French Ministry of Culture, Radio France, INA-GRM, Studios, Festivals and Conservatories. He was composer in residence in the Midi-Pyrénées region and was awarded the prize Villa Médicis hors les murs. His music, published by Éditions Jobert and Éditions François Dhalmann, has been performed and broadcast worldwide.

• Name — Nicolas Vérin • Born — 21 June 1958 • Birthplace — Saint-Omer, Pas-de-Calais, France • Occupation — Classical composer • Years Active — 1981–present • Website — http: www.nicolasverin.com/

Vérin was born 21 June 1958 in Saint-Omer, France. After initial studies with private professors of piano, at the Martenot School and the Brest Conservatory, he obtained his Diplôme de fin d'études from the Conservatoire National de Région de Saint-Maur in piano, studies in chamber music, harmony. At age 12 he started guitar and a year later founds and leads a pop music group. This was to be followed by jazz piano, which he learned mostly on his own, but also with teachers (Matias Pizarro, Jimmy Cheatham, François Couturier). After his baccalauréat, he followed a summer workshop in Cordes, near Toulouse, by INA-GRM, during which he decided to become an electroacoustic composer. He then studied music and science at the Universities of Paris VI–Jussieu, Brest and Paris VIII–Vincennes, where he obtained a licence de musique (B.A.). During this time, he organized with a fellow student the first electroacoustic music concert in the city of Brest. He later attended musical academies Acanthes (Aix-en-Provence 1982), and Darmstädter Ferienkurse (1992). Thereafter, he entered the electroacoustic music composition class of Pierre Schaeffer and Guy Reibel at Paris Conservatory where he got his degree in 1979. Vérin went on to study 5 years at the University of California, San Diego, where he obtained a Master of Arts (1982) and a PhD (1986) in composition and computer music. His main professors there were Roger Reynolds, Jean-Charles François, Joji Yuasa, Robert Erickson, F. Richard Moore, Bernard Rands, Gordon Mumma, Julio Estrada.

Upon returning to France, Vérin collaborated as musical assistant with Pierre Henry, for studio work, recording original sounds, processing sounds, and concert performances in major Festivals in France and Germany. The pioneer of musique concrète invited him in his studio for a composition in 1988. Vérin is considered one of only two disciples of Pierre Henry. and has performed his music in many occasions. In 1988, he was chosen by Jean-Claude Éloy to work at CIAMI (Centre d'informatique appliquée à la musique et l'image, Rueil-Malmaison) in charge of the MIDI studio and the cmusic/CARL environment. In 1989 he joined the creation department at IRCAM, where he works as a tutor. This involved coordinating the productions of invited composers (Michael Jarrell, Michaël Levinas, Frédéric Durieux, Hans-Peter Kunz) and teaching several courses of computer music (for the doctorate program of École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and IRCAM's Computer Music Curriculum) as well as participating in the beta-testing of Miller Puckette's Max programming language. In 1990, Vérin founded the association Ligys, which becomes a studio coop with composers Christine Groult and Jacqueline Ozanne, active in Paris for productions and a few concerts. After the dissolution of Ligys, he founds in 2007 the association Impulsion. In 1992 Vérin was appointed Professor of Electroacoustic music at the Conservatoire National de Région of Chalon sur Sâone (Burgundy), where he is tenured in 1998. From 2002 to the present, he is Professor of Composition and Electroacoustic Music at École nationale de musique et de danse d'Evry (Essonne). From 1992 to 1995, he is composer-in-residence in the Midi-Pyrénées Region. This includes a residence at LIMCA (Lutherie Informatique et Musique Contemporaine à Auch), where he realizes two compositions. He is appointed Musical Director for two editions of the Auch Danse/Musique Contemporaines Festival (in Gascony), involving the programming of 8 concerts, some in relation to dance companies. The residence also included studio work at GMEA (Groupe de Musique Electroacoustique d'Albi-Tarn), resulting in an electronic music piece, In vino musica, given daily for the show Musique des Vignes from October through November 1992 at the Centre Culturel de l'Albigeois. In 2003–2004, Vérin is invited at IRCAM to do a new version of his work 11 avenue du Midi on the WFS system (sonic holography), installation presented at Nicéphore Days in Chalon 2004 (France), at IRCAM's Festival Résonance 2004 and in Leipzig in 2005.

Besides his compositional work, Vérin has also performed electronic music and improvisation. He founded Duo Alchemia with Julien Feltrin (recorder), touring in France. With the improvised music trio DSV (Cécile Daroux: flutes, Louis Sclavis: clarinets, Nicolas Vérin: electronics) he performed in France (Festival Agora in 2002), in Russia and United States. Since the untimely death of Cécile Daroux, the group remains as a duo and renamed itself Ensemble Cécile. He performed with Vinko Globokar as electronic musician in the latter's magnum opus Laboratorium, in concerts at UC San Diego, Witten, and Cologne. Vérin appears also as improviser or electronic musician in several CDs (Xe symphonie by Pierre Henry, Préfixes by Michaël Levinas, Congruences by Michael Jarrell, Improvisations préparées with Mirtha Pozzi and Pablo Cueco) and performed with saxophonist Daniel Kientzy, actor Jean-Louis Jacopin, flutist James Newton, saxophonist Steve Coleman, pianist Anne-Marie Fijal. He has performed the electronic part of mixed and acousmatic pieces by Pierre Henry and many others. As a pianist, Vérin was accompanist of choirs and singers, played in jazz groups (with François Moutin and Louis Moutin, Philippe Botta and others).

• French Ministry of Culture (1992, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2003) • INA-GRM (1989, 1993, 2004, 2009) • Radio France (1991, 1996, 2004, 2012) • Festivals (Dijon in 1996 and 2001, Perpignan 1995, Nancy 1999) • Studios (Césaré Reims 2012, Centre Henri Pousseur (CRFMW) Liège 2009, GMEA 1991, GMVL 1990) • Conservatories (Bagnolet 2007, CEFEDEM Dijon 2006, Evry 2003...)

Vérin's catalog consists of more than 60 works, ranging from solo instrument to symphonic orchestra, through electronic music (fixed sounds or live), stage music for theatre, dance. Several of his pieces are published by Éditions Jobert-Lemoine (Paris) and Éditions François Dhalmann (Strasbourg).

• Musical excerpts of Nicolas Vérin's work on MySpace • Musical excerpts of Trio DSV on MySpace • Video of a performance of Chinook (Nicolas Vérin) by guitarist Pierre Tereygeol • Video of Pleine Lune (Nicolas Vérin) with visual by Dominique Piolet and Nicolas Vérin • Short animation movie from Celia Eid based on an excerpt of Nicolas Vérin's music • Video of a live performance of Khamsin (Nicolas Vérin) by drummer Benjamin Mourocq