Nikolaï Clavier (1989) is an award-winning composer living in the Netherlands. He graduated with a Master in Film Scoring from the Conservatory or Amsterdam in 2020 and a Master of Music at Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in 2018. As a composer with a classical background, he has in the past 10 years built up a repertoire of over 150 compositions and arrangements, including the scoring of 10 short films, 5 commercials and a video game in the past two years.  Aside from working actively as a film composer, Clavier is the violist in the twice award-winning Arthema String Quartet, and his master research Orchestrating Cinematic String Quartets (2018) has given him a renown within the international academic community (1st prize Fontys Reseach Competition 2018). He is currently working as a film and media composer in Utrecht, involved in projects such as the video game At Eve’s Wake (Top Hat Studios), the short films The Colour or a Goodbye and Dienstmeid#2 and an international documentary with award-winning filmmaker May Taherzadeh.

The most popular works from Nikolaï Clavier include his three graduation films at the Dutch Film Academy Waarom Bleef Je Niet Voor Mij? (winner: VPRO Documentaireprijs 2020, AHK eindwerksprijs & publiekprijs 2020, KNF Award 2020), Terug Naar Zotteken Waes (selection: In the Palace Short Film Festival 2021, Imagine Film Festival 2021, winner Santiago Film Festival) and Blauwe Maandag (Winner: Buma Music in Motion New Talent Award). In addition to this, he has been scoring popular short films and commercials such as Clinch (2020), Avontuur (2020) and Impasse (2019). In the beginning of 2021 he scored the short film Ode To a Sleeping City in which six time Dutch champion in figure skating Niki Wories dances on the frozen canals of Amsterdam. The video now has over 130.000 views on YouTube.
 
After his master thesis, Orchestrating Cinematic String Quartets, which was awarded the first prize in the national research competition in 2018, Clavier has gained specialized knowledge about string scoring techniques. This can be seen in some of his most popular film music arrangements for string quartet, such as The Lord of The Rings – Tone Poem in 5 Movements, John Williams Medley and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. As musician, he has performed with prestigious ensembles such as Oslo Camerata, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, The Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Libero Strijkorkest, Doordse Kamerorkest and Cugnon Consort. In 2013 he was nominated for the international composer’s competition Simply Stunning and he is currently playing in the twice award-winning ensemble Arthema String Quartet.

"I like Sonolize because it makes the music of young, contemporary and groundbreaking composers available to audiences worldwide. Sonolize gives a platform to originality."
Nikolaï Clavier, composer