Nicholas Selig

Born May 10th 1999, Nicholas Selig is a composer based in Victoria, BC. Originally studying music at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Nicholas transferred to the University of Victoria in 2021 and began his compositional career. While at the University of Victoria, Nicholas received private composition lessons with Professor Ajtony Csaba and Professor Christopher Butterfield and studied in classroom settings under Dr. Anthony Tan and Dr. Taylor Brook. Nicholas currently is completing is Masters of Composition at the University of Victoria under the supervision of Dr. Anthony Tan.

Writing for multiple mediums, such as electroacoustic, chamber, and film, Nicholas has a wide range of experience. He has had multiple school run concerts displaying his music as well as had his music showcased in the short film "Year of the Tortoise", directed by Connor Gaston, which has gone on to showcase in multiple film festivals such as the Victoria Film Festival, the Vancouver Island Short Film Festival, and the Cinevic Short Circuit Festival. 

In the summer of 2024, Nicholas partook in Synthetis 2024 in Radziejowice, Poland. During his two week stay he attended lectures and lessons by guest composers Chris Cutler, Justė Janulytė, Mark Andre, and Jessie Marino, as well as worked with the artists in residence, the Kwartludium ensemble. All of this resulted in a piece that Nicholas wrote during his time in Radziejowice which was performed at a concert at Radziejowice Palace on July 25th by members of the Kwartludium ensemble. In September 2024 Nicholas attended Compocon 2024, a week-long workshop where he worked with the Standing Wave ensemble in Vancouver, Canada as well as took lessons with guest composers Linda Catlin Smith, Alfredo Santa Ana, and Jeffrey Ryan. After the week, he was tasked with writing a piece that was then performed in a concert in Standing Waves concert series. 

Nicholas is currently enrolled at the University of Victoria working on his Masters of Composition. His current research is in musical perception and cognition in relation to compositional techniques. Using Auditory Scene Analysis (ASA), as well as spectralism and timbral approaches to harmony, Nicholas's research aims to provide an understanding of psychoacoustics for himself so that he can apply it to his own compositional practice. Aiming to build a relationship between the technical understanding of acoustics and the practicalities of composition, Nicholas's goal with his research is to showcase how an understanding of musical perception and cognition can be a useful tool for composers to use when creating new works.

Nicholas looks to further his development in film scoring as well as branch out into television and video game soundtrack writing while also continuing to compose for chamber/large ensemble settings.