Biography

Nico Muhly writes orchestral music, works for the stage, music for film, choral music, chamber music, and sacred music. He has received commissions from the San Francisco Symphony, Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Wigmore Hall, Tallis Scholars, King’s College, St John’s College, and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he is composer in residence. He is a collaborative partner at the San Francisco Symphony and has been featured at the Barbican and the Philharmonie de Paris as composer, performer, and curator. An avid collaborator, he has worked with choreographers Benjamin Millepied at the Paris Opéra Ballet, Bobbi Jene Smith at the Juilliard School, Justin Peck and Kyle Abraham at New York City Ballet, and with Sufjan Stevens, The National, Teitur, Anohni, James Blake, and Paul Simon. His work for screen includes scores for The Reader (2008), Kill Your Darlings (2013), Howards End(2017), and Pachinko (2022).

Among his concertos are works for violin (Shrink, for Pekka Kuusisto), organ (Register, for James McVinnie), viola (for Nadia Sirota), two pianos (In Certain Circles, for Katia and Marielle Labèque), and his vocal collaborators include Iestyn Davies, Renée Fleming, and Nicholas Phan. He has collaborated with visual artists Maira Kalman and Oliver Beer, created site-specific pieces for London’s National Gallery and the Art Institute of Chicago, and written articles for the Guardian, New York Times, and London Review of Books. Recordings of his works have been released by Decca and Nonesuch, and he is part of the artist-run record label Bedroom Community, which released his first two albums, Speaks Volumes (2006) and Mothertongue (2008).