Born in 1965 in the Paris region, Nicolas Carles began his musical training on the violin, under his mother’s guidance. He later discovered the warm and distinctive sound of the viola and, in 1981, enrolled at the Paris National Conservatoire of Music and Dance in Colette Lequien’s class. In 1984, he was awarded the First Prize for chamber music in Geneviève Joy-Dutilleux’s class, and in June 1986, he was unanimously awarded the First Prize for viola, coming first and also receiving the Special Prize of the Marquise de Saint-Paul.

On several occasions, he was selected to lead György Sebök’s masterclasses in Ernen (Switzerland).

Nicolas Carles performs regularly with various chamber music ensembles (the Paris String Quartet, the Resonnance Oboe Quartet, the Camerata Tango) and contemporary music groups (2e2m), and takes part in numerous concerts, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. For ten years, he took part in the Vittel music season as well as the Musique Espérance festival directed by Miguel Angel Estrella. Abroad, he has performed in Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya), Taiwan (Taipei, Taichung) and Spain (Barcelona, San Sebastián).
Since 2010, Nicolas Carles has been a member of the Thymos Quartet, with whom he has performed at various festivals in France and abroad (String Quartet Biennale, Luberon String Quartet Festival, Fougères Musicales, Washington Kennedy Centre, Duke Performances, Vitoria Festival, Brazil).
He performs with, amongst others, the pianists Christian Ivaldi, Jean-François Heisser, Marie-Josèphe Jude, Christoph Eschenbach, Georges Pludermacher, Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden and Jean-Frédérique Neuburger; the Rosamonde and Manfred quartets; the clarinettists Pascal Moragues, Philippe Berrod, cellists Alain Menier, Xavier Gagnepain and Xavier Phillips, violinists Olivier Charlier and Roland Daugareil, and double bassist Yann Dubost.

He is currently second soloist with the Orchestre de Paris, assistant to Antoine Tamestit at the Paris Conservatoire (CNSM), and taught for several years at the École Normale de Musique de Paris.