Dr. Natalie Nicolas, a Sydney-based composer, researcher, and lecturer, holds a Master of Music (Composition) and a PhD from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, earned via scholarship. Focused on evoking calm and catharsis, her emotionally driven music aligns with her research in music and emotions. Her work "We Won't Let You Down" for ACO Collective, funded by the Hush foundation, exhibits this, and the album received an ARIA nomination in 2019.

 

Nicolas has had the pleasure of writing for the Sydney, Tasmania, Canberra, and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, the Australian String Quartet, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Goldner SQ, Claire Edwardes, The Song Company, and others. Her accolades include the ASQ Andrew Ford National Composers Forum (2013), National Women Composer's Development Program (2016-2018), and the Harold and Gwenneth Harris Endowment for Medical Humanities Harris Award (2019/20).

 

Her achievements extend to winning the Flinders Quartet Composition Competition (2017, 2019), the MSO Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers' Program (2021), and being featured on ABC Classic's 'AusMusic Month' and 'Best of Australian Classical Music' playlists in '18, '20 and '22. In 2021, her music premiered at QPAC with the Southern Cross Soloists and Slava Grigoryan to their largest audience in 26 years.

Internationally recognised, Nicolas' compositions have resonated in China, the US, and Canada. She participated in the Connecticut Summerfest in 2021, collaborating with Grammy-nominated ZOFO piano duo on her piece 'Bloom', which has since been on a US tour by Alex Raineri and Maxwell Foster. Heading a research team at the Charles Perkins Centre, she created an immersive string orchestra work for their 10th anniversary with Ensemble Apex, inaugurating her new research node "Health and Creativity".

 

Her recent works include "Sydney Dreaming," commissioned by Omega Ensemble, premiered at the Sydney Opera House, and "By the Tide of the Moon," premiered by the Flinders Quartet. Nicolas was named the prestigious 2025 Layton Composing Fellow with Australia Ensemble, whose commission facilitated a new work for the ensemble titled "A Time, a Place" in June 2025. She was also named the Australian Composition Competition winner with Matt Withers, resulting in a new commission "Coastal Edge" for solo guitar, premiering in 2026.

 

Nicolas released "Peaceful Moments", an album with the Hush Foundation celebrating their 25th anniversary, that featured Matt Withers, and Vatche Jambazian. It was written for healthcare workers to transition from chaos to calm & catharsis. The album was well received and was made album of the week on ABC Classic, and featured daily in Nov' 2025. "Peaceful Moments" will receive its world premiere in December 2025 funded by Phoenix Central Park, at The Church in Alexandria, and performed by the award-winning pianist Alex Raineri, and similarly championed guitarist Matt Withers. 

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(current as of Nov '25)