Dr. Nicolas Chuaqui

Nicolas Chuaqui is an internationally-performed composer of wide-ranging music for instruments, voices, technology, and many combinations thereof. A performer of voice and piano, his music is influenced by his experiences with performance and his fascination with musical time, momentum, memory, and impression.

A native of the western US (born in California, raised in Utah), Chuaqui is frequently inspired by nature. In works like Desert Presence, for guitar and electronics, and Toxic Wind, for brass quintet, Chuaqui explores both the natural environment itself and our relationship to it. This relationship is often, though not always, explored through digital technology, such as live signal processing. These electroacoustic works have received high-profile performances at the International Computer Music Conference, the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, SEAMUS National Conference, and Diffrazioni Multimedia Festival (Florence, Italy).

In recent years, Chuaqui has also enjoyed fruitful collaborations with many performers and ensembles across the country. These have included orchestras (The Albany, Oregon, and Riverside Symphonies), chamber ensembles (NOTUS, Ensemble Signal, and the Arditti Quartet), individuals (pianist Jason Hardink), and New Voices Opera, who premiered his Forest of Dreams in a fully-staged production. His recognition has also included awards in multiple compositional genres, such as winning the Khorikos ORTUS International New Music Competition for his choral work Qui Confidunt in Domino and being awarded the Bernard Rogers Prize from the Eastman School of Music for his orchestral work Cantus.

As an educator, Dr. Chuaqui is passionate about exploring musical possibility and stimulating creativity. He earned his DMA in Composition from the Eastman School of Music, where his primary teachers were Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, David Liptak, and Robert Morris, and where he also taught composition lessons, theory, and aural skills. Prior to that, he earned an MM in Composition from Indiana University and a BA in Music and English from Dartmouth College.