Frederic D’Oria-Nicolas sixth recording for Fondamenta.

Rather than pursue the career in science that was open to him, Frederic D’Oria-Nicolas decided to devote himself completely to music. He moved to Moscow, where he studied under Tatiana Zelikman, whose guidance he had been receiving in parallel to his studies since the age of thirteen. In 1998, he joined her class at the Gnessin Music Academy in Moscow. After seven years in Russia, D’Oria-Nicolas was the first European to graduate from this illustrious academy. His career has been studded with numerous awards: First Prize of the Mrvaninsky Competition, Saint Petersburg; Revelation Classique de l’Adami, prizewinner of the Bleustein-Blanchet Fondation pour la Vocation, and awards given by the Fondation Charles Oulmont and the Mecenat Musical Societe Generale In 2009, ResMusica magazine named him artist of the year.

With a repertoire that includes over 380 works, D’Oria-Nicolas has given concert performances in some 24 countries.

His recording of the works for two pianos by Rachmaninov with pianist Alexander Kobrin was named best chamber music album of the year for the International Classical Music Awards.

D’Oria-Nicolas has always been fascinated by sound techniques. In 2008 he created his own label, Fondamenta, distributed by Sony Music. With his passion for revealing new talents, his most notable productions include the first albums by Yan Levionnois (Victoires de la Musique finalist), Thomas Leleu (Victoire de la Musique award winner) and Jules Matton (winner of the Grand Prix Lycéen des Compositeurs).

In 2015, he developed Phoenix Mastering, a unique technique for the restoration of analogic recordings. He travels through Europe in search of previously unpublished recordings of legendary artists and has created “The Lost Recordings” collection. The first eleven volumes, including artists Ella Fitzgerald, Dave Brubeck, Emil Gilels and Sarah Vaughan, have enjoyed resounding success worldwide.