Vassos Nicolaou studied at the Academies of Music in Cologne and Frankfurt, at the Paris Conservatory and at IRCAM. His music has been performed among others  by the  Ensemble Modern, Ensemble intercontemporain, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble musikFabrik, New World Symphony, Peter Eötvös, Emilio Pomarico, Beat Furrer, Johannes Kalitzke, Franck Ollu, Tamara Stefanovich, Johannes Schwarz and Pierre-Laurent Aimard. He has been the recipient of the Giga-Hertz Special Award, the Tremplin Prize by IRCAM and Ensemble intercontemporain, the Bernd Allois Zimmerman Prize from the City of Cologne  and the Villa Massimo Fellowship in Rome.