Nicolas Bacri

In 1979, Bacri entered the Conservatoire de Paris where he studied with Claude Ballif, Marius Constant, Serge Nigg, and Michel Philippot.

[2] Bacri organized the very first performance in France of the complete 15 string quartets cycle by Shostakovich (1989–90 season with the Manhattan String Quartet as a symbol of the end of cold war) and featured for the first time in France the major composers of Terezin: Pavel Haas, Gideon Klein, Hans Krasa and Viktor Ullmann.

He regularly gives masterclasses in composition in France and abroad (in USA: Rochester Eastman School of music... Russia: Ekaterinburg Ural Academy and China: Beijing Conservatory).

Reviewing this performance, Howard Reich of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "The openly emotional writing for the bass clarinet (...) surely defied musical fashions of our noisy age."

In his book The Classical Revolution: Thoughts on New Music in the 21st Century, John Borstlap hailed Bacri as "the most important French composer since Messiaen and Dutilleux...".

The 29 minutes long symphonic suite was written on commission for the son of South Korean businessman Yoo Byung-eun.