Short Bio
Composer Nick DiBerardino is noted for creating “richly textured, multilayered” sound worlds (Minnesota Star Tribune) that tell 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 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 American Composers Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, Aizuri Quartet, Contemporaneous, So Percussion, and many others.
Nick is the Director of Ensemble 20/21, Curtis’s acclaimed new music ensemble. He has also consulted for the Tanglewood Music Center, advising on creative decisions and repertoire curation for their Festival of Contemporary Music. Previously, Nick founded England’s first laptop orchestra, OxLOrk, and designed several collaborative composition initiatives, including a children’s opera composed in partnership with students at Girard College.
Nick is dean of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he continues to serve on the faculty as chair of composition. He holds composition degrees from the University of Oxford, the Yale School of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music, and Princeton University.