Nico Muhly - Composer, I Drink the Air Before Me (2009)

www.nicomuhly.com

Born in Vermont in 1981 and raised in Providence, Rhode Island, Nico Muhly graduated from Columbia University in 2003 with a degree in English Literature.  In 2004 he received a Masters in Music from the Juilliard School, where he studied composition under Christopher Rouse and John Corigliano. 

Muhly's orchestral works have been premiered and commissioned by the American Symphony Orchestra, the Juilliard Orchestra, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Orchestra, and the Boston Pops, as well as a new work for the Chicago Symphony MusicNOW. 


Film credits include his scores for Choking Man (2006) and Joshua (2007), and he has worked extensively with Philip Glass as editor, keyboardist, and conductor for numerous film and stage projects.  Recently, he conducted excerpts from Einstein on the Beach for a new ballet by Benjamin Millepied at the Opera de Paris.  In October, 2007, the American Ballet Theater premiered Muhly and Millepied's collaboration From Here On Out, a commission for their 2007-2008 season. 


He has also lent his skills as performer and conductor to other musicians, including Björk, Bonnie “Prince” Billy”, and Antony of Antony and the Johnsons. His work with Antony has included performances in Arnhem, Leeds, and New York City, and in February 2007, they worked together on a new Shakespeare setting for The Sonnet Project. Muhly looks forward to the release of such collaborations as Ekvílibríum, the highly anticipated solo debut of Icelandic musician Valgeir Sigurðsson, and All Is Well by American folk singer Sam Amidon.

Sigurðsson will be releasing both discs on his own Bedroom Community, a label he inaugurated by producing Muhly's first album, Speaks Volumes (2007).  In the months leading up to Speaks Volumes' American release, Mihly was invited to present concerts of his chamber music at both Carnegie Hall and the Whitney Museum.  Future recording projects include a second record, titled Mothertongue.