François NICOLAS

fnicolas [at] ircam.fr

© Guy Vivien

VIDEOS

Interview (Buenos-Aires, avril 2004) : French American Television

·       First part

·       Second part

WRITINGS IN ENGLISH

Français

—      "The third listening is the good one (concerning hearing considered as a process of integration)" Musicæ Scientæ (n° 2, 1997)

—      "What is a musical logic?" (décembre 1999, Forum Diderot, Ircam)

—      "What can we hope for from the musical logics established in the twentieth century?" (march 2000, Ars Musica - Brussell)

—      Questions on logic: writing, dialectics and musical strategies (2000)

—      Radiation Control on Multi-Loudspeaker Device : La Timée (N. Misdariis, F. Nicolas, O. Warusfel, R. Caussé) - ICMC 2001

—      « Defining music ? » (on André Boucourechliev)

—      Is Schoenberg Wagner’s future ? (New York, May 1st, 2006)

—      How to theorize music today in the light of mathematics? A musician’s point of view – trad. of “Gazette des mathématiciens”, n°119, January 2009

§       version pdf

—      Badiou and Music : A musician’s investigation (trad. Liam Flenady) – Journées Alain Badiou (Paris, October 2010)

François Nicolas is a Researcher and Associate Professor in charge of contemporary music at the École normale supérieure (Ulm) and Ircam. As a composer he combines composition with theoretical reflection. Having studied philosophy at the École Polytechnique (Paris), organ with Albert Alain, piano with Carlos Roque-Alsina, and composition with Michel Philippot, he performed jazz before turning to contemporary music.

Nicolas met Mauricio Kagel and Luciano Bério (Acanthes, 1981 and 1983), attended lectures at Darmstadt (1982 and 1984), and took the Ircam computer training course for composers. He is currently working on “Égalité ’68” a large-scale compositional project on May ’68 consisting of a symphony, a cantata, a madrigal, and an opera. His musical works are available through Jobert.

He lectured for some time at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris and was also a guest producer at France-Musique. Together with Hacène Larbi he founded the Entretemps ensemble and contributed at Ircam to the production of the Modalys software and Timée multi-loudspeaker source.

From 1988–2004 he was a member of the editorial board of the Revue de musicology. Cofounder in 1986 of the Entretemps review, since the early ‘90s he has run the Samedis d’Entretemps (meetings around books on music) and different seminars (music and mathematics/psychoanalysis/philosophy/history…). He has just completed the large book Le monde-Musique (et son écoute à l’œuvre) [The World-Music (and its Listening in the Work)] and is preparing a book on Parsifal.