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"Rapidly emerging as one of Australia's most exciting young artists" (ABC Classic), Paul Nicolaou is a multi-award-winning harpist and composer based in Sydney, Australia. Praised as "brilliant" (classikON), he has quickly gained international recognition as a creative and virtuosic young artist, receiving numerous accolades including the 2026 Eva Pascoe Award, First Prize in the 2023 National Youth Music Arranging Competition, 2021 Monash University Emerging Composer Prize, Most Outstanding Performer Award at the 2022 Sydney Harp Eisteddfod and was a winner of the 2022 Artology 'Fanfare' Competition. He was also a finalist in the 2025 APRA Professional Development Awards for Screen Composition, and received the Highly Commended Award in Willoughby Symphony Orchestra's 2023 Young Composer Competition.

Currently an Honours student at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Paul studies under the tutelage of internationally celebrated harpist Alice Giles AM. After commencing harp at age 16, he has quickly established himself as an accomplished, versatile and sought-after performer, appearing as Guest Principal Harp with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Auckland Philharmonia, as well as Omega Ensemble, Ensemble Apex and more. He is also a freelance harpist with the Opera Australia Orchestra who he will perform with in 2025. He has previously participated in ten Australian Youth Orchestra performance programs, eight of which as a principal musician. Additionally, Paul was a featured artist at the 2024 and 2025 Orange Chamber Music Festivals and a Dots+Loops Performance Fellow for 2024.

A recipient of ABC Classic's 2024 Commissioning Fund and selected composer for the Australian Music Centre's 2025 MOMENTUM Plus project, Paul has participated in composition programs including the Australian Youth Orchestra's 2022 Composition Program and 2023 Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Composer Workshop. His work has been widely acclaimed, the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music, Monash University, noting it "stood out as an exceptional example of both compositional craft and musicality". Paul also has experience composing for the screen, his original score for the short film 'Yannis' receiving a nomination for Best Original Score (Made in the West Film Festival).

Paul's works have been performed by both notable emerging and established artists such as Sydney Youth Orchestras, the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra, Leichhardt Espresso Chorus, Caesura Ensemble, and musicians of the Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, Queensland Symphony, Adelaide Symphony, and West Australian Symphony Orchestras.

Paul is also an experienced pianist, violinist, an accredited music arranger with the Music Arrangers' Guild of Australia and Australian Music Centre Associate Artist.

Paul Nicolaou — current to November 2025