Aleksandr Nisse is an organist and composer of Russian (St. Petersburg) and French (Paris) descent. Aleksandr spent his childhood years growing up in Hamburg and in the family ancestral home in Normandy. As a child Aleksandr was influenced by the legendary blind organist Helmut Walcha, who was his father's teacher, and by his aunt Danielle Salvignol-Nisse, a student of Jean Langlais and Gaston Litaize. Having studied piano with Valery Krol, Aleksandr went on to study organ with Susan Landale in Paris and continued his keyboard studies with Louis Robilliard at the Conservatoire National de Region de Lyon, where he was unanimously awarded “Premier Prix de Perfectionnement” with distinction. A scholarship for postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London followed where he studied under Nicolas Kynaston and Lionel Rogg.
He regularly performs concerts in Ireland, Switzerland, France and Germany and succeeded in obtaining an award from TU Dublin for a PhD in composition under the supervision of Prof. Gráinne Mulvey. His research area lies in the application of the exact partial pitches of the harmonic series. He has held positions in Terenure College, St Andrew’s Church Westland Row, and Whitefriar Street in Dublin, and has recently been appointed as Titular Organist at St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral Dublin. His recent recording The Ascension, on the world-famous Selby Abbey organ, received 4 stars in BBC Music Magazine and 5 stars in Choir and Organ.
As a composer he was commissioned in 2019 by the Hochschule der Künste Bern to write an Irish-based piece for voice, strings and wind dynamical organ and dancers. Entitled Aiséirí, this piece was performed as part of a dance production in Bern Minster in June 2019. His most recent piece NOTINTUNE was commissioned by Crash Ensemble and was premiered last May in An Grianán Theatre in Letterkenny.
Nicolas de Grigny (1672-1703)
Dialogue en Fa
Recit de Tièrce en taille
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)
L'Ascension
Majesté du Christ demandant sa gloire a son Père
Alleluias sereins d'une âme qui desire le ciel
Transports de joie d'une âme devant la gloire du Christ qui est la sienne
Prière du Christ montant vers son Père
Danielle Salvignol-Nisse (1944-1996)
Six Pièces
Prière
Ave Maris Stella
Elégie
Fantaisie
Offertoire
Communion
Aleksandr Nisse
Improvisation
