Nico Couck, guitar (Antwerp, Belgium) obtained his Master’s degree at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp, under the guidance of Professor Roland Broux. Since 2010 he has won several awards at Radio Klara Festival, Laboratorium III (ChampdAction), and the International Lions Music Competition, among others. In 2014 he was awarded a Kranichsteiner Stipendienpreise for interpretation by the Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt. His repertoire varies from Baroque to contemporary music, with a dedicated focus on present-day musical developments. In addition to concerts in Europe, Asia, Central America, and the U.S., his past events and venues include Acht Brücken Köln, Barbican Centre, Cité de la Musique Paris, Festival Internacional Cervantino, Huddersfield Music Festival, Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik Darmstadt, MaerzMusik Berlin, Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Nationaltheater Mannheim, NUNC! Chicago, Sochi Winter Theater, Transit Festival, Vlaamse Opera, Warschau Autumn, Wien Modern, Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik, and others. His past performances have been broadcasted on France Musique, WDR3, Radio Klara, and SWR. He has collaborated with and premiered works by composers including Oscar Bianchi, Chaya Czernowin, Jason Eckardt, Clemens Gadenstätter, Johannes Kreidler, Brigitta Muntendorf, Hilda Paredes, Stefan Prins, Eva Reiter, Simon Steen-Andersen, Steven Takasugi, and Serge Verstockt. Conductors with whom he has collaborated include Alain Altinoglu, Yuri Bashmet, Georges-Elie Octors, Titus Engel, Clement Power, Michel Tabachnik, and Claudio Vandelli. Besides his activities as soloist, Nico Couck is a member of Nadar Ensemble, appears regularly with Hermes Ensemble, Klangforum Wien, SWR Ensemble Experimental, and is artist-in-residence at ChampdAction. In addition to performing, he is chair of the plucked strings department at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp.