Nicholas Sackman

London-born Nicholas Sackman (b. 1950) studied music at Nottingham University and then at Leeds University with Alexander Goehr. He spent fifteen years teaching music in schools before returning to the Music Department at Nottingham as a Lecturer in Composition.

He has received commissions from, amongst others, the BBC, London Sinfonietta, Lontano, Arditti Quartet, Balanescu Quartet, pianist Peter Lawson, Swiss Winds, Bern Flute Quartet, Hertfordshire County Youth Orchestra, Nottingham University, South Bank Summerscope Festival, Nottingham Youth Orchestra, Sinfonia ViVA and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. His compositions have been extensively performed in England and across Europe

Sackman’s Piano Sonata and String Quartet No. 2 have been recorded on the Metier CD label whilst his orchestral piece Hawthorn (BBC Proms 1993) has been recorded (BBC Symphony Orchestras/Davis) on the NMC label. Another Metier CD, of six of his chamber compositions, was released in 2005 as was a CD on the NMC label with a Royal Northern College of Music performance of his composition Meld for piano, percussion and brass.

His Concerto in black was commissioned by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and premiered in November 2007, and a setting of Maiden in the Moor for Tenor and percussion was recorded by NMC and released as part of the NMC Songbook.

Recent compositions include Cross hands for piano, Puppets for percussion quartet, a Violin Concerto inspired by the uninhibited performance-style of Ruth Palmer (Classical Brit Awards Young British Classical Performer 2007) and a Violin Sonata (first performed March 2010), also for Ruth Palmer.