Bruno Nicolai (20 May 1926 – 16 August 1991) was an Italian film music composer, orchestra director, conductor, pianist and musical editor, most active in the 1960s through the 1980s.

[1] While studying piano and composition at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome, he befriended Ennio Morricone and formed a long working relationship, with Nicolai eventually conducting for and co-scoring films with Morricone.

Morricone noted in an interview discussing the Dollars Trilogy, "I chose a great musician and friend to be my conductor: Bruno Nicolai, who conducted almost every score of mine from that point on until 1974.

"[2] Nicolai also scored a number of giallo exploitation films and wrote many scores for director Jesús Franco.

His work was featured in the Quentin Tarantino films Kill Bill: Volume 2[1] and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.