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(composer website: http://www.nicolaiworsaae.dk/nicolaiworsaae.dk/Nicolai_Worsaae_composer.html)
Nicolai Worsaae has studied composition at the Royal Danish Academy of Music with professor Bent Sørensen, Hans Abrahamsen, Niels Rosing-Schow and Hans Peter Stubbe Teglbjærg. He has a bachelor, master and a postgraduate master degree from this school and additional studies abroad at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Graz with professor Beat Furrer. His main focus has been acustic music in the contemporary genre often combined with electro acustic or electronic music such as in his piece for Sinfonietta, Emphatische Ellipse, 2nd String quartet or in the piece Du hast gesagt for Song and electronics. The musical language of Nicolai Worsaae has not seldom been called expressive and very direct. Contrasts and energetic variety are important parametres in building the formal structures as well is the relationship between development and repetition. The idea from the Musique concrete by treating real sounds as musical material with focus on objects and their relations or context is transformed into the use of classical instruments and their specific and unique sound qualities and physical limits. This idea and tecnique is mostly seen in the orchestra piece Zugendlos and in Emphatische Ellipse where also the fundamental inspiration of the pieces have been own experiences with concrete sounds or sound phenomenas. A direct consequence of that is a groving interest in different types of noise and has become more and more visible in his musical language, such as in his Gesang durch eine Mauer and in the 2nd String quartet.
The interest for performative elements and special set up’s for the music is present in later pieces such as Et frappe and Du hast gesagt where the musicians are as much part of a well planned scenic game as they are musical performers.
Punkttegn Nicolai Worsaae has been performed by a number of ensembles inside as well as outside Denmark. Ensembles such as Ensemble Intercontemporain (FR), The Ensemble Recherche (DE), Arditti String quartet (UK), London Sinfonietta (UK), Oslo Sinfonietta (NO), The Athelas Sinfonietta (DK), Stockholm Curious Chamber Players (SE), Gothenburg Opera Orchestra (SE), Ensemble Figura (DK), Ars Nova Malmö (SE), Ensemble Scenatet (DK) and others. In the spring 2010 he had his final debut concert from the Royal Danish Academy of Music. A concert organized in collaboration with The London Sinfonietta, and two other graduating composers, Christian Winther Christensen and Rune Glerup.
Nicolai has received both scolarships and prizes for his work as composer such as the anual prize of the Danish Composers Society (2008), The Idella fund (2008), The Danish Art Council (2010, 2011, 2012) and The Sonning fund (2010) as well as several smaller scholarships.
Nicolai is a member of the Danish Composers Society. Many of his pieces are published at the Edition·S.
Punkttegn Nicolai Worsaae is one of the founders of the composers group Dygong together with Simon Loeffler, Christian Winther Christensen and Regin Petersen. A platform specialized in new music inspired by or often in collaboration with other artforms. The idea is to present new music in a different way by conceptualizing and rethinking the classical concert using visual and auditory elements to create an uninterrupted movement. Dygong has played at a numerous of festivals during the last couple of years such as Nordic Music Days 2009 in Oslo and 2010 in Copenhagen, SPOR-festival 2008 and Borealis festival in Bergen 2010, Athelas new music festival in 2010, UNM festival 2011 in Copenhagen, Nordic Music Days 2011 in Copenhagen and at the Wundergrund festival 2011 in Copenhagen.
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