NICHOLAS DENTON PROTSACK

NICHOLAS DENTON PROTSACK is an emerging composer and concert cellist, originally from Kelowna, British Columbia. His creative work often explores new connections between music and the natural world. Described as a “(composer) to keep a close eye on” by the Canadian Music Centre BC, Nicholas was recently named a recipient of two first prizes from the 2021 SOCAN Foundation Young Composers Awards, as well as a top prize from the internationally renowned BMI Student Composer Awards (2021). As a cellist, Nicholas is an active freelance performer and advocate of new music—frequently involved in collaborative projects across North America that range from more traditional idioms, to free-form improvisations. Although primarily a chamber musician, he has also appeared as a soloist with the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra. Nicholas is currently undertaking a PhD in music at Victoria University of Wellington, studying with composers Michael Norris and Dugal McKinnon. His other major teachers have included David Garner (composition), Jean-Michel Fonteneau (cello), and Jennifer Culp (cello).