‘Deliciously sparse and exquisitely controlled… it’s also something that I can imagine being played on my dream radio show alongside The Field, Xenakis, Thee Silver Mt Zion, Jon Hopkins, Morton Feldman, Murcof and Matmos. It’s contemporary music that can be of interest as much to Sigur Ros and Can fans as to lovers of Birtwistle and Cage.’
Nick Martin is a Copenhagen-based composer. His music has been performed by leading ensembles and orchestras including Copenhagen Phil, Concerto Copenhagen, Manchester Camerata, Danish Radio Vocal Ensemble, The Marian Consort, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Esbjerg Ensemble, Solem Quartet and The Nordic String Quartet, and by soloists including accordionist Bjarke Mogensen, cellist Clare O’Connell and violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen. His violin concerto Maternal, written for Waley-Cohen and Manchester Camerata, was premiered in September 2025.
Performances have taken place at Carnegie Hall, The Barbican, Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, Koerner Hall (Toronto), and DR Koncerthuset (Copenhagen), with broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, Danish Radio P2, Deutschlandradio Kultur, and ABC Classic.
Martin released the album Terroir under his ensemble project Blue Luminaire on Bella Union in 2022. He has also released music on Platoon, Orchid Classics, Dacapo records & NMC. He is the recipient of the 2023 Pelle Prize, awarded in honour of the late Danish composer Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, and has received grants from the Danish Arts Council, KODA, Art Music Denmark, Culture Moves Europe and the Francis Routh Trust.
He has made his home in the Nordic countries since 2009, based in Copenhagen and formerly in Helsinki, with periods working in Reykjavík.
