Nikolaï Clavier started his career as a violist at the Barratt Due Music Institute (2013), continued to study composition at the University of Ager (2014), a Master of Music at the Fontys Academy of the Arts (2018) and a Master of Composing for Film at the Conservatory of Amsterdam (2020). His master thesis, Orchestrating Cinematic String Quartets, was awarded the first prize in the Fontys Artistic Research competition. Clavier is currently working as a musician, teacher and film composer in the Netherlands.

In 2012 he was nominated in the international composer’s competition Simply Stunning and he won the first prize in the Willem Twee Chamber music competition with the Arthema String Quartet in 2018. As a film composer he is currently working with leading Dutch and international film directors. Some of his most famous scores include Hit (docu 2018), Twintig (2019), Back to Zotteken Waes (fiction 2020), Why Didn’t You Stay for Me? (2020) and Blue Monday (2020).

The past 7 years Clavier has been involved in teaching viola, violin and orchestras through talent programs such as Musikk på Majorstuen (Oslo), El Sistema Stovner (Oslo) and Oslo Kulturskole. In 2013 he initiated the project Music in Bolivia, where he spent 9 months assisting the development of music schools and El Sistema orchestras in the Chiquitano region of Bolivia.

As musician, Clavier has worked with several international artists such as Alexander Rybak, Guro Kleven Hagen, and Jeanine Jansen. He played as solo violist in the critically acclaimed performance of Les Misérables in Kilden Concert Hall in 2013 and has since played with Oslo Camerata, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, The Norwegian Radio Orchestra among others. He is currently a member of the Arthema String Quartet, De Link Tilburg and Dordrechts Chamber Orchestra.