Biography

Born and raised in Greece, Nikolas Labrinakos has steadily established himself in recent years as a composer of remarkable versatility and skill. After graduating in mathematics with distinctions in astrophysics, he relocated permanently to London where he studied musical composition with the celebrated pianist/theorist Susan Bradshaw and gained a PhD in composition at the University of Surrey. His doctoral dissertation on the "Partita for Orchestra" by Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, (who scored "Murder on the Orient Express"), was warmly praised by Sir Richard himself.

Nikolas's first large-scale orchestral suite "Celebritas", inspired by the sites and legends of the ancient Mediterranean world, was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra. The work impressed Bruce Broughton (Governor of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences) for it's 'very well written character, orchestration and production'. Among Nikolas's other classical orchestral scores, his "Sinfonia Scenica" vividly evokes cinematic actions and panoramas in a sequence of Debussy-like 'Images' for large orchestra, while his elegy "The Last of England", inspired by the English pastoral tradition, conveys true depth of feeling, and has been described by the British composer and critic Bayan Northcott as 'a little masterpiece'. His choral output includes a hieratic setting of the Latin Mass commissioned by the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music 2013, and a setting of Caliban's speech "Be Not Afeard" from "The Tempest" composed in celebration of 2016 'Shakespeare Year'. Meanwhile Nikolas's Christmas chorus "En Bethlehem" - Part 1 of his "Nativity Triptych" celebrating the birth of Christ in poly-linguistic texts devised by the composer - was included in, and supplied the title of, an anthology of Christmas music published by Cadenza/ Music Sales.

It was his excitement over the film music he heard in his boyhood cinema-going that first inspired Nikolas to become a composer. Although he has acquired a mastery of the techniques of modern classical music, he continues to believe that commercial idioms handled with true artistry can produce music that combines wide appeal with genuine novelty.
- IMDb mini biography by: Bayan Northcott (composer and sometime critic of The New Statesman, the Sunday Telegraph and The Independent)