Nico Tjoelker

Nico Tjoelker (email) is Assistant Director of Music of the Cathedral, assisting Canon Director of Music Stephen Buzard in running the Cathedral’s multifaceted, intergenerational music program.

Nico is a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts in organ at the University of Notre Dame, studying with Professor Kola Owolabi. Previously, he earned a Master of Music in organ from Yale University (2023), studying with Professors Martin Jean, Carole Terry, and James O’Donnell. At Yale, he was Director of Music at Berkeley Divinity School and served as Organ Scholar at Trinity Episcopal Church on the Green, where he assisted Walden Moore in directing the adult and children’s choirs.

Before Yale, Nico lived in Australia, completing a Bachelor of Music in organ at Sydney Conservatorium of Music (2020) under Professor Philip Swanton, graduating with First Class Honors. His thesis examined early 20th-century paper roll recordings of organ music. He was Organ Scholar at St. Mark’s Anglican Church (2020–2021) and St. Stephen’s Uniting Church (2017–2021).

An active international performer, Nico studied at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg (Germany) in 2018–2019 and attended the Haarlem International Organ Festival (Netherlands) in 2018 and 2022. In 2024, he was one of six organists worldwide selected for the Festival’s Excellence Class, where he performed in a showcase recital. He was also among five selected participants in the Lucerne Organ Masterclass (Switzerland, 2018).

Additional performances include the Australia and New Zealand College of Organists Academy recital (Napier, 2018), a tour of European historical organs (2017), and the Cambridge Organ Scholar Experience (2016). He was guest organist for the New South Wales Youth Orchestra’s inaugural concert (2015) and won first prize in the Sydney Organ Competition – Intermediate Section (2013), and first prize in the Sydney Organ Competition – Open Section (2016).

Nico and his wife, Alice, a PhD student in liturgical studies at Notre Dame, have recently relocated to Chicago from South Bend, IN.