Didkovsky’s work with Doctor Nerve joins the furious energy of rock with intricate composition, some of which finds its origins in rich software systems of his own design. His non-didactic approach to combining human and machine creativity is his unique fingerprint in a musical world that pushes the boundaries of rock music, algorithmic composition, and contemporary classical formal systems.

Doctor Nerve has been collaborating with The Sirius String Quartet on Didkovsky’s new work for the expanded ensemble, entitled Ereia. Ereia was commissioned with support from the Jerome Foundation, The American Composers Forum, Harvestworks, and the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. The three-movement piece premiered at the FIMAV Festival in Victoriaville, Quebec, on May 19, 1997. Ereia enjoyed its New York premiere at The Kitchen on January 10, 1998. The Aaron Copland Foundation supported the recording of Ereia with a production grant, giving rise to a new CD which was released on Cuneiform Records in May 2000. Also in early 2000, Nick Didkovsky and Sirius filmed a live performance excerpt of Ereia for the NBC series "Law and Order, Special Victims Unit."

Didkovsky is a member of the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet, which recently released its second CD, called Upbeat (Ambiances Magnetique). The band tours extensively, and has performed in festivals and venues all over the world. Didkovsky has contributed twelve compositions, including Black Iris (released on Binky Boy, see below), To Laugh Uncleanly at the Nurse (Upbeat), and She Closes Her Sister With Heavy Bones (Ayaya Moses, CD).

Didkovsky’s recording residency at Harvestworks/Studio PASS culminated in a collection of new works for electric guitar. The recordings were released on a CD entitled Binky Boy, and was released on Didkovsky’s own Punos Music label.

Compositions include Amalia’s Secret, for the Bang On A Can All-Stars (SONY Classical), and a duo for All-Stars’ cellist Maya Beiser and percussionist Steve Schick. The latter work, entitled Caught By The Sky With Wire, was broadcast live from The Kitchen on John Schaeffer’s "New Sounds Live" radio program in 1997. In 1998/99, New works were commissioned by choreographers Carrie Hanson (Dance Theatre Mannheim), Sara Hook (Alvin Ailey School), and John Malashock (Malashock Dance Company).

Awards include a commissioning grant from Meet The Composer to compose a new work for Sirius String Quartet using four Heil Talk Boxes, from The Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust to create a new composition for The Meridian Arts Ensemble, and a fellowship from New York Foundation for the Arts to support his work in computer music.

He has been collaborating with Phil Burk on the creation of JMSL (Java Music Specification Language), the Java successor to Hierarchical Music Specification Language. JMSL was premiered at Circuits: The Governor’s Conference on Arts and Technology, in Palisades, NY in March, 1998. This piece, a statistical deconstruction of a Schubert Impromptu, was released on CRI Records in 1999. His work for computer and Erh Hu (performed by ND and Barbara Benary), was premiered at the Warwick CyberArts Festival in late 1999, and performed again in early 2000 at an evening of new works hosted by CRI Records and curated by Phil Kline. New, recent JMSL works were performed at 2001: A New Music Odyssey festival in Portland, Maine, and "The Technophobe and the Madman", a music theatre production that took place simultaneously at NYU and Renssellaer Polytechnic Institute, using Internet2 technology to connect the two sites. Didkovsky and Burk presented a paper on JMSL at the International Computer Music Conference, 2001 in Havana.

didkovn@mail.rockefeller.edu
http://www.doctornerve.org/