Nick Calligeros is an Australian improvising trumpeter, composer, sound artist and educator working creatively at the intersection of jazz, experimental, and electronic music. Whether it be his idiomatic trumpet playing or his sample-based electronics, Nick’s work explores the magical properties of texture and timbre to produce music imbued with mood and meaning.

Based in Sydney/Gadigal and Wollongong/Dharawal, Nick leads ambient post-jazz group SOFT SPOT, and co-leads celebrated experimental composer-improviser collective Microfiche, as well as electro-acoustic quartet We Will Intersect, with pianist and mentor Adrian Lim-Klumpes (of Triosk and Tangents fame). He also produces explorative ambient electronics under his own name.

As well as leading his own projects, Nick is a go-to collaborator for some of Sydney’s most forward thinking artists and projects such as Tangents, Alaska Orchestra (with whom he performed with for Vivid Festival 2018 at the Sydney Opera House), Meg Alice Clune, and the CoronaCode Music Project. Further, Nick has performed with some of Australia’s most acclaimed jazz and improvising artists including Chris Abrahams (The Necks), Sia Ahmad & Jonathan Zwartz.

Nick has also played and recorded for an eclectic range of popular music acts including indie rockers Middle Kids, and Human Noise, singer-songwriter Kim Churchill, producer Billy Fox, vocal group The Maes, pop-brass band Hot Potato Band, and Aussie reggae outfit Black Bird Hum.

Outside of the trumpet, Nick composes explorative ambient electronic music. In 2019 he released an E.P. entitled ‘In Bloom, In Blend’ – a collection of distinctive mood-driven sound collages built from everyday sounds. In 2023, he released his second E.P. of solo explorative solo electronics, entitled ‘In Fight & In Flow’, on Sydney/Gadigal-based People Sound label.

Nick completed a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance in 2015 from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where he was mentored by internationally recognised Australian jazz musicians Phil Slater, Simon Barker and Mike Nock.

In 2021, Nick returned to the Sydney Conservatorium to undertake a research-based Masters of Music Performance, supported by the Kathleen Armstrong Bequest Scholarship. Through this study, Nick developed an original practice-led study under the supervision of mentor Phil Slater, culminating in a dissertation and accompanying album was completed in 2023, available online to read here. 

Other recent accolades include being the recipient of APRAAMCOS’s Creative Fund, SIMA Regional Touring Fund (for Microfiche), CreateNSW Quick Response Grant and Australian Council for the Arts funding (for Microfiche).

Nick has continued his study of the trumpet with Australia’s greatest brass practitioners including Scott Tinkler, David Elton (SSO/LSO) and Yoram Levy (TSO). He has also continued his artistic study as a participant in the 2016 Australia Art Orchestra Creative Music Intense, and undertaking an Australian Art Orchestra mentorship with prolific composer and pianist Andrea Keller.

As a composer, Nick has written for a variety of styles ranging from art music to brass band music. In 2015, under the guidance of the inimitable Sandy Evans, Nick composed an hour suite of music re-imagining the soundtrack from Studio Ghibli’s “Princess Mononoke” for a hybrid classical chamber and jazz octet. Excerpts from this suite can be heard on Soundcloud.

Nick is also a passionate music educator, working as an in-house peripatetic trumpet tutor at a number of high schools where he passes on his love for brass playing. He also directs a number jazz bands, aiming to inspire a new generation of young improvisers.

Nick’s creative output extends to the written word, running a blog at nickcalligeros.com where he publishes art, essays on music, resources and more.