Nicholas Lens

Nicholas Lens
Born	Ypres
Occupation	Author, Composer, Director
Nationality	Belgian
Influences Igor Stravinsky, Peter Eötvös, Moving Theatre

Nicholas Lens (sometimes credited as Nicolas Lens or Nicolas Lenz) is a contemporary Belgian author and composer.

Lens was born in Ypres near the French border in Flanders, Belgium. His godfather taught him violin when he was five. He studied trumpet and double-bass, first at local academies and then at Royal conservatories. Later on he studied viola da gamba with Sophie Watillon.
While he was studying at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, he started composing professionally for theatrical projects, film and television. While a member of the National Orchestra of Belgium, the conductor Mendi Rodan offered him a contract as a double bass player in the Israel Sinfonietta in Beersheeva, Israel.

His work is published by Schott Music International, Mainz/New York and distributed by Sony BMG International and Daila Laika ltd.

Personal life

Lens spent his youth in Ypres in Flanders, Belgium. He grew up in a musical family of five children.^[1]

His godfather André Moerman, a concert violinist, was paralysed due to the MS-disease. He taught the violin to Nicholas Lens when he was at the age of five. His biography^[2] quotes:

"Once when the child Nicholas Lens was playing the violin in a very enthusiastic way during the lessons, his bow touched, by accident, the director of the local academy on one of his vital organs. So the little Nicholas’ violin career ended when he was ten.“

“His first television appearance was as a clarion player when he was eleven. He was asked to play “The Last Post” at an official ceremony at a British and American war cemetery. Nicholas was wearing short pants and it was freezing cold. The television crew members offered him some brandy. The version of “The Last Post” he played during the ceremony on his horn was never heard before.”^[3]

Lens moved from Ypres to Brussels at the age of fifteen.
He was supporting his own studies at the Royal Conservatory by writing music for theater plays and television.

Lens went traveling all over the world and became an autodidact author/composer. He has one daughter, Clara-Lane, and lives in Brussels.

Works

• The songbook ‘Orrori dell’Amore’ (1995) for soprano, baritone, counter and chamber orchestra;
  CD release on Sony Classical (SK 62016) - published by Schott Music International, Mainz;

• The soundtrack ‘Mein Erstes Wunder’
  a film by Anne Wild, premiered at Berlin, 2003;

• The trilogy ‘The Accacha Chronicles’ (2005) (Sony BMG 82876 66239 2 -published by Schott Music International, Mainz/New York)
  for soprano, tenor, counter, mezzo soprano, baritone, bass, male actor, small choir, mixed choir and chamber orchestra:
  • part I: Flamma Flamma -The Fire Requiem (1994) BMG Classics 74321 697172 - Sony Classical SK 66293;
  • part II: Terra Terra -The Aquarius Era (1999) BMG Classics 74321 697182;
  • part III: Amor Aeternus -Hymns of Love (2005), Sony BMG 82876 66238 2;

• The film (22 min.) “love is the only master I’ll serve”, premiered at the BIFF New York, June 2006 [3]
  music, script, directing;

• "The Puppet Designer" for baritone and chamber orchestra, published by Schott Music International 2006, Mainz/New York.

• "Wired," theatrical chamber music for harp and soprano, premiered at Beijing, China on December 5, 2006.

Announced works

• "Slow Man," (N. Lens/ J. M. Coetzee), an opera in co-operation with John M. Coetzee (libretto) based on his novel Slow Man, world premiere on July 5, 2012 at the Malta Festival/ Great Theatre, Poznań Opera House;
• "Ame Nue," a 3-o 4 4 women, (in preparation), a theatrical chamber piece (premiere autumn 2012);
• "The Sorrow of Serena," (in preparation), a new film as writer and director;

References

1. ^ (ref. interviews/portraits WNYC-RTL-Deutsche Rundfunk-ARD-SWR-Viva-Concertzender-Klassik R. De-Schott Music-Sony BMG)
2. ^ [1] [2]
3. ^ Flamma Flamma

External links

• Official website Nicholas Lens' Website
• Time magazine [4]
• Fan page [5]
• Schott Music International [6]
• Internet Movie Data Base [7]
• Biff, New York [8]
• Compact Discoveries [9]
• Sonymusic [10]
• Sony BMG [11]

Persondata
Name	Lens, Nicholas
Alternative names	Lens, Nicolas; Lenz, Nicolas
Short description	author, composer
Date of birth
Place of birth	Ypres, Belgium
Date of death
Place of death