Nick Norton
Nick Norton is an American composer, guitarist, electronic musician, and concert producer. He has taught at Cal Poly Pomona's Music Department, as well as at Chapman University's Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music.
Early life
Norton was born in Santa Monica, California on July 4, 1986. His mother worked in film and television and his father, whom he never met, was a stuntman. As a child, Norton grew up in Los Angeles, in Newbury Park, California, and on Catalina Island. Norton has worked at Camp Emerald Bay on Catalina Island from 2000–2008, and continues to volunteer there.Education
Norton attended UC San Diego, where he graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Music and Political Theory in 2008. His primary teachers were Lei Liang, Rand Steiger, and Chinary Ung. Afterwards, he attended the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris with a scholarship funded by the European American Musical Alliance and studied with Sofia Gubaidulina and Michel Merlet. For his graduate studies, he attended King’s College, London, where he obtained his MMus in Music Composition in 2009, studying composition with Rob Keeley and also taking courses with George Benjamin, Arnold Whittall, and John Deathridge. Additionally, he has studied guitar at the Royal Academy of Music and privately with Jake Kiley of Strung Out.Norton attended UC Santa Barbara for his doctoral studies, studying with Clarence Barlow, Joel Feigin, Curtis Roads, and Andrew Tholl. Norton graduated with a PhD in Music Composition from UCSB in 2018.
Career
Norton composes electronic music, ambient music, post-rock, punk rock, contemporary classical music, and various other genres. He also plays guitar, piano, saxophone, and other instruments. He is part of a musical group called Honest Iago, founded by a group of students at the University of California, San Diego in 2005. In 2009, the group's lineup included Matt Fradkin, Nick Norton, Craig Vermeyen, and Hunter Knight. In 2016 Nick jointed the punk band The Newports as a bassist. He eventually switched to guitar.Norton is the founder the Los Angeles-based music nonprofit Equal Sound, which was originally established as a concert series in 2015. He is currently the artistic director of Equal Sound. In 2011, he had also founded the website New Classic LA, which was eventually merged with Equal Sound. On March 13, 2020, Equal Sound set up the Corona Relief Fund for musicians who have lost their livelihoods during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Filmography
Filmography:| Year | Title | Credits |
| 2020 | Small Engine Repair | Assistant music editor |
| 2020 | Bill Burr Presents: The Ringers | Music editor, music supervisor |
| 2019 | Bigger | Assistant music editor |
| 2019 | Good Trouble | Assistant music editor |
| 2011 | The Southern Question | Composer |