About

Regarded for his creative audience-appealing programming, NICHOLAS SCHMELTER (b. 1982) graduated in 2006 with a Master of Music degree in organ performance from Central Michigan University, where he studied with Dr. Steven Egler. He was awarded honors at CMU including a Graduate Fellowship, the Centralis Scholar Award, the School of Music Performance Scholarship, and the Presser Foundation Award. In addition to performing in venues throughout the USA, Nicholas made his European debut in 2019 with several subsequent recitals in Germany and Switzerland. In September 2022, he opened concert seasons in Italy and Germany: on September 11, he performed a program of eclectic repertory at the Abbazia di San Pietro (Modena, Italy) to open the Modena Organ Festival; on September 18, he performed an all-American program at the Matthäuskirche (Stuttgart, Germany) to open the “Internationalen Orgelkonzerte” series in its fifty-first year. A composer himself, Nicholas has commissioned and premiered new music by Moonyeen Albrecht, Carson Cooman, Robert Powell, Philip Rice, Bernard Wayne Sanders, Benjamin Teague, and others. A church musician since the age of sixteen, he offers private instruction and coaching, is a sought-after choral accompanist, and enjoys several musical partnerships, including Dual-Art, his piano-organ duo collaboration with pianist Tyler Kivel. His music has been broadcasted on Michael Barone’s radio program Pipedreams. Schmelter served as Director of Worship and Congregational Life at First Presbyterian Church of Caro, Michigan, from 2016-2023, where he utilized the unaltered Aeolian-Skinner organ and 1904 Steinway Model A piano in a warmly received series of community concerts. He is Kyrkomusiker in Anderslövs församling in Skåne County, Sweden. He has served as Artist in Residence at Trinity Episcopal Church in Bay City, Michigan, and at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Flint, Michigan. He was appointed President of the Board of Directors of the Organ Media Foundation in September 2023. Click on the program dates that follow for recent select solo recital archives: March 6, 2020; October 8, 2021; December 4, 2021; December 5, 2021; December 12, 2022; July 29, 2022; September 11, 2022; September 18, 2022; and, November 4, 2022. Click among the next program dates for select Dual-Art recital archives: July 12, 2019; October 6, 2019; November 3, 2019; February 21, 2020; November 7, 2021; November 14, 2021; September 25, 2022; and, September 30, 2022.