Nicolas Gilbert
(1979 - )
Nicolas Gilbert (*1979) studied composition and analysis at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with composers Michel Gonneville and Serge Provost. He has also received training in mandarin Chinese at Nankai University (Tianjin, China) and in Russian at St-Petersburg State University (Russia).
From the very beginning of his career, Nicolas Gilbert has enjoyed close relationships with some of Canada’s finest new music ensembles such as the Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal and the Trio Fibonacci, which have each commissioned several new works from him and continue to promote his music. Among other commissions that he received are works for the Quasar saxophone quartet, the Société Codes d’accès, the ensemble Alizé, the ensemble Constantinople, Bradyworks, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Continuum (Toronto), Kaida (Amsterdam) and the Boehm Quartet (Yekaterinburg). He also composed works for several outstanding soloists as cellist Benjamin Carat (Lyon), soprano Janice Jackson (Halifax) and clarinettist Thomas Piercy (New-York). Other performers include the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Kovalis Duo and the International Contemporary Ensemble (Chicago).
His catalogue comprises about 30 chamber, vocal and orchestral works that have been heard in concert series and festivals in Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, Mexico, Paris, Lyon, Milan, Berlin, Belgrade, Beijing and Shanghai. Since 2000, he has received many grants from the arts councils of Québec and Canada as well as from the Fonds Québécois de Recherche sur la Société et la Culture and three SOCAN Young Composers Awards.
Nicolas Gilbert was resident composer at the Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur in Montreal from 2003 to 2005 and president of the Codes d’accès concert society from 2002 to 2004. He is presently preparing a doctor’s degree in composition at McGill University under the supervision of composer John Rea. During the 2005-2006 season, he is in residence at GRAME (Lyon), working on a new piece for cello and electronics (commission : GRAME-CALQ).