Nicole Knorr
Music / Composition
Ann Arbor, MI
Nicole Knorr is a musician of liminalities, devoted to investigating the in-betweens, transformations, and fragments—a collage of tradition and invention.
Nicole's work resides at the crossroads of sound, visual art, and language. As a composer and improvisor, they are tending a body of work engaged with sound as atmosphere, modular fiction, music-as-game, and music at the threshold of mystery—art as communion—ultimately restructuring music as a medium where agency is embraced as intimacy.
Working across performance, graphic scores, electronic music, poetics, and traditionally notated music, Nicole is sustained by subcultural slowness, patience, and faith in music as a catalyst for softening, connecting, and closing the distance between us. Her art is a place of intention and care—indefinite, malleable, and shifting always.
Collaborations of the upcoming season include performances with the Atlanta Philharmonic, the New Jersey Symphony through the Edward T. Cone Institute, performers of the Albany Symphony, a residency with NeuroArts Productions to create a concert-length staged music theater work, and the creation of a new chamber opera with Marinette Gomez (Lyric Opera of Chicago) and the University of North Florida. Nicole also contributes piano and vocals to my salamander, a pluralistic collective that moves fluidly between art pop, indie, folk, and live improvisation. my salamander's debut album is expected in spring 2026.
Nicole has received commissions from esteemed organizations such as the Music Teacher's National Association (MI chapter) and the National Association for Teaching Singing. Past highlights include her work with Haven Trio through Connecticut Summerfest, her collaboration with FLYDLPHN, and recognition in Sinta Quartet's annual composer competition.
Institutions and individuals that have recognized and shaped Nicole's artistic trajectory include the Albany Symphony, the New Jersey Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, Cincinnati Song Initiative, the National Association for Teaching Singing, the Music Teachers National Association, Sinta Quartet, Haven Trio, NeuroArts Productions, Connecticut Summerfest, Du Vert a l'Linfini, the Transpacific Trio, FLYDLPHN, VIRID Duo, Brain Pocket Trio, Alba New Music Festival, the Hicks Honors College (UNF), Wildflower Composers, Tom Cipullo, Mathew Fuerst. the University of Michigan (MM) where she studied under Michael Daugherty and Evan Chambers, and the University of North Florida (BM) where she studied under Erin K. Bennett (piano), John Daugherty (voice), Gary Smart (composition) and Joshua Tomlinson (composition, music technology).