Short Bio
Composer Nick DiBerardino tinkers with the weird, rusty musical machines of the past, repurposing them to tell fresh and fantastical tales. He has written music about everything from failed flying machines and particle physics to shadow puppets and tall glasses of beet juice. No matter the inspiration, Nick's music and all his energies as a composer, educator, and administrator flow from the belief that music can inspire connection and invite people into inclusive communities.
A Rhodes Scholar, Nick has received commissions from many distinguished artists and institutions, including the Dover Quartet, Symphony Tacoma, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Sandbox Percussion, the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, and Star Trek’s John de Lancie. Nick’s works have been performed around the world by the Philadelphia Orchestra Winds, Artosphere Festival Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Aizuri Quartet, So Percussion, and many others. Nick founded England’s first laptop orchestra, OxLOrk, and has designed several collaborative composition initiatives, including a children’s opera composed in partnership with students at Girard College.
Nick is Provost and Dean of the Conservatory at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he directs the Curtis New Music Ensemble and continues to serve on the faculty as chair of composition. He is also a composition faculty member and program coordinator at the Tanglewood Music Center (TMC). Nick has consulted for the TMC, advising on creative decisions and repertoire curation for TMC’s Festival of Contemporary Music. He holds composition degrees from the University of Oxford, the Yale School of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music, and Princeton University.