We recently checked in with Natalie Nicolas, our Australia Ensemble 2025 Layton Emerging Composer Fellowship recipient. In this interview we talk her upcoming workshop with us, her new work for the Australia Ensemble, and how composing for chamber ensembles differs from composing for larger groups such as orchestras. Natalie will workshop her brand new chamber work with the Australia Ensemble musicians in June. 

Tell us how the Layton Fellowship is going, and what your compositional process have been like composing a new work for the Australia Ensemble.

The Layton Fellowship is going brilliantly so far! I’ve had the opportunity to watch many of the AE concerts over the last while, including one with the quartet for whom I’m writing. They have been so inspirational. I write a lot of music that bridges the gap between contemporary popular music and classical music, and I’ve really enjoyed leaning into that space for this work. It’s no doubt such a privilege to have players who are so captivatingly talented that I’ve felt totally unlimited in my musical explorations, and I can’t wait to hear my music come to life.

Seeing your works come to life must be a very special experience - do you have one that stands out in recent times? 

Oh gosh, how can I choose? Seeing and hearing my music come to life is – and I have said this for years – probably the most rewarding thing I’ve experienced in this life. It truly supersedes everything else. Most recently, I wrote the music for a documentary, and had the immense privilege of recording it with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. It was a new endeavour for me, and I had incredible mentorship for the project. Sitting in a studio with film on the screens and the orchestra playing live to it, was dumbfoundingly incredible. Every time my music is brought to life, it seems to bring new joys. I have no doubt that hearing AE play my music will be just as thrilling.

You've worked with a wide range of ensembles and even Grammy-winning artists. What excites you most about writing specifically for a chamber ensemble like the Australia Ensemble, and how does it differ from your past work with larger orchestras or other formats?

I’m going to be honest, my favourite ensembles to write for are chamber! There’s something so special about exposing music in the fragility of a small number of players. There is so much honesty, so much individualism, and so much potential for really getting to experience a group of players become one unit through incredibly nuanced material. I often write music that pushes rhythmic boundaries – polymetric, polyrhythmic, and multimetric material is where I love to challenge my players, and chamber musicians can really execute the minutia of these details in a clear and unique way. Where large ensembles can create incredible texture, small ensembles can capture incredible rhythmic detail. And I must say, I truly love detail in music. It’s the small, crystal moments in music that often fixate me, and this is what chamber ensembles do best. Where I’ve recently had my moment with orchestra working with the TSO (which is another unparalleled experience), I’m so happy to be back in my chamber-writing capacity for this next project. How lucky are we as composers to lilt between formats and have the privilege of leaning into their respective strengths?!

You mentioned that this fellowship is an opportunity to explore “emotional landscapes” and deepen your connection with 'place.' Can you share what ‘place’ means to you in your creative process, and how it might shape the piece you compose for the Australia Ensemble?

This is a great question. In fact, the piece’s working title is currently “A Time, A Place”. My research background is in music and emotions, specifically the invocation of calm and catharsis through musical experience. I find that ‘place’ and ‘calm’ are inextricable concepts. Calm for me, is heavily influenced by feeling connected to the ‘now’, connected to ‘place’ where I belong, and the feeling of being connected to the moment holistically. Portraying both the large but also the small moments in life that bring emotional significance, has been an endeavour of mine for years. I connect to my audiences by writing music that elicits a common recognition of the feelings of the everyday experiences we revel in, and the way we can feel brought to purpose, when we connect back to place – to the earth, to the moment, to each other. Musically, I aim to bring a sense of presence, fixation, and emotional connection to a moment. This, to me, is where the truly profound emotional experiences lie, and what really colours our life.

How do you prioritise composition time, or draw inspiration, in balance with your busy schedule as a lecturer, teacher, mentor and performer?

This answer is threefold. Firstly, as a mentor/teacher, I feel almost a sense of obligation to be actively progressing my skills and creating in the space where I teach. Composing isn’t only a creative expression, it’s a learning opportunity. There is space for growth in every new work and every new collaboration. The privilege I have to teach and mentor early composers, and my value in that role, I believe, is based upon my active part in the space of composing, and the lessons I learn that I can pass on. Secondly, I’ve learnt over the years that creative expression is a core part of wholehearted living. In times when I’ve leant more heavily into research and teaching, I’ve been unable to ignore the building urgency I have to express creatively. To me, there is almost a block, a dullness, to life without creative expression. Over time, I’ve learnt that my wellbeing centres on my continued creative endeavours. Lastly, performing has been a welcome aspect of my life as a musician. When I was younger, I didn’t fully understand the connection between performance, composition, research, and education. Over time, it became abundantly clear. Performance connects me to the music I write, reminding me that it is tangible, real, and exists for the performer, not for the page. Research enables me to create in new, novel, and consistently exciting ways. Education has been the force that reminds me of the privilege of knowledge, has kept me upskilled, and been my way to try contribute to the continuation of young Australian composers having the skills and confidence to create new work.

The Australia Ensemble will be workshopping Nicolas' new work in June 2025, composed as a part of the Layton Emerging Composer Fellowship.

Applications open for the 2026 Layton Emerging Composer Fellowship mid-June 2025.

Please visit our website https://www.music.unsw.edu.au/opportunities/layton-emerging-composer-fellowship for more information.