Nicolas Bernier is a composer, artist, producer and professor of sonic arts at Université de Montréal. For over two decades, his work in performance and sound installations has been presented around the world in institutions such as Ars Electronica (Austria), Sónar (Spain), Mutek (Canada), DotMov Festival (Japan), L.E.V (Spain), ZKM (Germany), and Transmediale (Germany).

With over twenty awards from prestigious competitions in both music and contemporary art, his work frequencies (a) received a Golden Nica from Ars Electronica (Austria) in 2013, one of the most important awards in the field of digital arts. In 2019, he published the book Sur le diapason (On the Tuning Fork) with Les Presses du réel, concluding the frequencies series. That same year, his audiovisual work entitled structures infinies (Infinite Structures) was nominated for and exhibited in London as part of the Aesthetica Art Prize.

In 2025, his seminal work, the installation frequencies (light quanta), was exhibited until 2026 at the ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medien (Center for Art and Media) in Germany. A copy of this work is also part of the permanent collection of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (MNBAQ). At the heart of her research-creation lies a specific exploration of the performativity of electronic sound, a practice enriched by dialogue with leading artists in the visual arts (Manon De Pauw, Isabelle Hayeur, Jonathan Villeneuve), dance (Danièle Desnoyers, Ginette Laurin, Pierre-Marc Ouelette, Royal Winnipeg Ballet), theatre (Denis Marleau, Stéphanie Jasmin, Mark Lawes), animation (Marie-Hélène Turcotte), and poetry (Fortner Anderson). In this capacity, he collaborates notably with Beans, founder of the Anti-pop Consortium, a leading figure in left-field rap in the United States. The result of this collaboration appeared in 2022 on the album Science_Fiction, described as “a uniquely surreal sound collage” by the popular British magazine Electronic Sound.

He has produced nearly fifty albums, both solo and collaborative, released on major labels including LINE (USA), Crónica (Portugal), Ahornfelder (Germany), leerraum (Switzerland), Home Normal (UK/Japan), and empreintes DIGITALes (Canada). Since 2016, he has actively contributed to the development of ensemble electronic music with Ensemble d’oscillateurs, both a research-creation and an educational project. The ensemble offers guidance on score writing and performance techniques in electronic music; it fosters contemporary creation by working with some fifteen artists, both students and professionals (Hervé Birolini, Cat Hope, Candas Sisman), while also performing early electronic music repertoire such as works by pioneering composers Pauline Oliveros and Else Marie Pade; the ensemble has released a series of three albums on the US label LINE; and it performs at major festivals, including Sight & Sound, Akousma, and Mutek.

2025
Visions couleurs, Label Formes • ondes (CA)

2024
Lueurs oniriques (musique pour l’installation), Bureau des fréquences (CA)

2023
Invisible multicolore, Bureau des fréquences (CA)

2023
Batenica (musique inspirée du livre), Bureau des fréquences (CA)

2022
Science_Fiction, Bureau des fréquences (CA)

2022
Danses kaléidoscopiques (musique du spectacle), Bureau des fréquences (CA)

2022
Ensemble d’oscillateurs, 5 Directions, LINE (US)

2021
M. Carreaux (musique du film), Bureau des fréquences (CA)

2021
Ensemble d’oscillateurs, 2 Transcriptions (Oliveros • Pade), LINE (US)

2019
frequencies a (archives), Farmacia901 (IT)

2018
Ensemble d’oscillateurs, 4 compositions, LINE (US)

2017
transfert/futur, Acte (CA)

2015
frequencies (sound quanta), Farmacia901 (IT)

2014
frequencies (a / fragments), LINE (US)

2013
frequencies (synthetic variations), Entr’acte (UK)

2012
Music for a Piano / Music for a Book, Home Normal (UK/JP)

2012
Travaux mécaniques, Empreintes DIGITAles (CA)

2011
usure.paysage, Hrönir (DE)

2010
courant.air, Ahornfelder (DE)

2010
strings.lines, Crónica (PT)

2010
The Dancing Deer EP, Home Normal (UK/JP)

2010
silence.musique, leerraum[] (CA)

2008
Les arbres, No Type (CA)

1977
Société magique, Fantôme sinusoidal, Bureau des fréquences (CA)

COLLABORATIONS

Soon
Associated Sine Tone Services II, Flag Day Recordings (US)

2025
Melt Mauve Trio, Bureau des fréquences (CA)

2025
Melt Mauve II, Label formes • ondes (CA)

2024
Melt Mauve I, Bureau des fréquences (CA)

2024
Associated Sine Tone Services I, Flag Day Recordings (US)

2019
avec Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard, Music for Standard Oscillator Ensemble, Archives officielles (CA)

2014
avec Francisco Meirino, Fiction, Misanthropic Agenda (US)

2015
avec Simon Trottier, E-tron (CA)

2013
BOLD, fmv/shr, E-tron (CA)

2010
BOLD, Duel second, Cronica (PT)

2010
avec Simon Trottier, The Market Fresh, Zymogen (IT)

2009
avec Simon Trottier, …et retrouvé en forêt, 12rec (DE)

2009
avec Jacques Poulin-Denis, sur fond blanc, Ekumen (CA)

2007
BOLD, Il Buono Il Brutto Il Cattivo: Études, No Type (CA)

2007
avec Simon Trottier, objet abandonné en mer, 12rec (DE)

2007
avec Jacques Poulin-Denis, étude No.3 pour cordes et poulies, Ekumen (CA)

2007
Millseconde topographie, Tricycle, Ekumen (CA)

2007
Milliseconde topographie, Paperasses éparses, No Type (CA)

2006
Milliseconde topographie, Poster musique, Ekumen (CA)