Nicholas Lens

The author / composer Nicholas Lens was born in Ypres, a small provincial town near the French boarder in Belgium. He started studying violin with his godfather when he was five. Once when he was playing 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 trumpet 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 trumpet was never heard before. Later on, while he was studying at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, he started composing professionally for theatrical projects, film and television. While he was 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. He had to make an important choice between the career of a professional musician and the uncertain life conditions of an autodidact composer. He made his choice. Meanwhile he was caught by the virus of globe trotting. Inspired by this new passion, adventurous traveling, he started to create a musical oeuvre of the maze of images gathered in his mind. His work as a composer is published by Schott Musik International, Mainz/New York and distributed by Sony/Bmg International. Currently Lens writes an opera called 'Slow man' in co-operation with John M. Coetzee, based on his novel. Nicholas Lens is a single father and lives in Brussels with his nine year old daughter.