Biographie
Nick Wales' electronic classical music is immersive, visceral and progressive. From empowering beauty to magnetic dark passages, Wales' textural compositions inspire listeners across multi art-forms including popular and classical music, contemporary dance, film, theatre and the visual arts.
Recent commissions include collaborations with choreographer Marina Mascarelle for Ballet de l'Opéra de Lyon and Sydney Dance Company; The feature film score for True Spirit for Netflix feature dir. Sarah Spillane, ab intra for Rafael Bonachela and Sydney Dance Company, Zampatti, Maton and Step Into Paradise for MAAS Powerhouse Museum Sydney, The Greatest Menace podcast soundtrack for AMAZON/Audible, the Helpmann Award nominated AM I for Shaun Parker and Company and a new immersive work Cathedral for a Deep Valley for the Bundanon Trust.
Nick’s ongoing collaboration with Aboriginal song man Rrawun Maymuru has seen their work Nyapillilngu (Spirit Lady) feature in Sydney Dance Company’s 2017 production Ocho and win the Indigenous Language Award at the 2020 National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMAS).
A master of building tension, drama and spectacle, Nick has soundtracked Sarah Spillane’s feature films True Spirit (Netflix) and Around the Block. Television credits include Step into Paradise with Amanda Brown (Blakfella films / ABC) , The Lost Diggers of Fromelles (channel 4 UK), Bird Nerd:The Art of Leila Jeffreys (ABC), Hannah Gadsby’s Nakedy Nudes (ABC), Nothing to Lose (SBS).
Nick’s musical collaborators include Sarah Blasko , Bree van Reyk, Veronique Serret, Ngaiire, Tarik O’Regan, Sophie Hutchings, Deepchild, Stereogamous, Paul Mac, Jonny Seymour, Jess Green, Alyx Dennison, Jessica O’Donoghue, Jason Noble.
Visual Art collaborators include Mel O’Callaghan, Lauren Brincat, Justin Shoulder and Hayden Fowler. His collaborative works have featured at the Bienialle of Sydney, MMCA Seoul, The Adelaide Bienalle of Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney and in public collections including The Art Gallery of NSW, National Gallery of Australia and Artbank Australia.
While Wales' contemporary dance scores are both challenging and abstract, his pop and world music sensibilities are undeniable. Traversing all genres as a founding member of twice ARIA nominated art rock band CODA, he has also collaborated with Sarah Blasko for a number of years, writing the orchestral arrangements for her 2012 album I Awake and co-writing material for her albums on Eternal Return Depth of Field and Emergence.