Biography

Background

[Nissim on a train in a tunnel] Nissim Schaul is a composer of music for classical instruments, and the occasional radio or film project.

Currently living in Paris, Nissim grew up in Raleigh, NC, and has spent much of his adult life in New York City, where his work has been performed at, among others, Symphony Space’s Thalia Theatre, Tenri Cultural Institute, St. Peter's Lutheran Church, and Le Poisson Rouge. Nissim toured the Netherlands with the Cross-Linx Festival in February, 2011, following Ben Lanz as he premiered Redirect, for solo trombone, in major venues in Utrecht (Vredenburg Leidsche Rijn), Eindhoven (the Muziekgebouw), Gronignen (Oosterpoort), and Rotterdam (De Doelen). Also recently, Nissim’s vocal trio, Rising was chosen to be presented on Catholic University’s New Voices Festival and was performed in Washington, DC, on September 11, 2010.

Nissim’s work has been performed by, among others, QNG-Quartet New Generation and New Music Raleigh, as well as members of eighth blackbird, Sospiro Winds, and the North Carolina Symphony – and heard in such far-flung locations as New York; Paris (Maison de Radio France); Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Eindhoven, and Gronignen in The Netherlands; St. Paul, Minnesota; Urbana, Illinois; Reno, Nevada; Raleigh; Washington, DC; Blonay, Switzerland; Villecroze, France; and both Croatian and Slovenian Istria, as well as on the radio on France Musique and Studio 360. He also wrote the soundtrack for American Purgatory, an award-winning radio documentary on political asylum in the age of terrorism that was heard on many public radio stations across the United States, from San Francisco to Chicago to Maine.

Nissim’s work has been supported by two grants from the American Music Center's Composer Assistance Program (2008 for Nuevos Misterios and 2010 for Something Else (Music for Sleeping through Winter)), SUNY-Stony Brook, a City of Urbana Arts Grant, and the New York State Music Fund. He has received academic scholarships from Columbia University and SUNY-Stony Brook, as well as the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau, the Académie Musicale de Villecroze, and Acanthes, which he attended for the 2003, 2009, and 2010 sessions, respectively. He also attended the MusicX festival in Blonay, Switzerland, during the summer of 2010.

Nissim has a BA from Columbia University (with honors in music) and a Masters in Composition from SUNY-Stony Brook. His main teachers have included Martin Matalon (current), Allain Gaussin, Sheila Silver, Jonathan Kramer, Sebastian Currier, and Marco Stroppa. He studied computer music at the Conservatory of La Courneuve-Aubervilliers with Jonathan Pontier and Jean-Yves Bernhard. He is now researching mixing electronic means and period instruments (like harpsichord or viol) at the University of Paris 8, with more of a musicological focus. Nissim is also picking up the vielle à roue (French hurdy-gurdy), just for fun.