About Nolan

Nolan Ehlers is a Chicago-based percussionist specializing in new music, improvisation, and chamber music. Nolan has performed with Ensemble Modern, Aiyun Huang, Wynton Marsalis, Beyond This Point, and others. He has premiered works from composers such as Michael Gordon, David Fennessy, John Supko, and Molly Joyce. In May of 2025, Nolan will work with students of Kunstacademie Deinze in Belgium to present collaborative multidisciplinary performances alongside other members of the artist collective Inland Ocean.

Nolan founded Else, if Else, a trio of piano, percussion, and bass, which explores intersections of composed music and improvisation. Else, if Else have contributed to commissioning new repertoire for their instrumentation, and they have been in residence at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Bowling Green State University, and Lawrence University.

Nolan has appeared as a soloist with the University of Michigan Philharmonic Orchestra and the Lawrence University Percussion Ensemble. He can be heard on John Luther Adams’ An Atlas of Deep Time with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and Eugene Lester’s Psalm for the José Limón Dance Company. Recent performance highlights include the premiere of Michael Gordon’s "Field of Vision" at Bang on a Can’s Loud Weekend, a performance of "All Rise" with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and the premiere of David Fennessy’s Open Ground with Ensemble Modern.

Nolan studied Afro-Cuban drumming with the acclaimed rumba group Los Muñequitos de Matanzas. He directed Lawrence University’s Afro-Cuban ensemble Tambo Toké, and he received a 2020 Downbeat Student Music Award for a collaborative performance with the Lawrence University Jazz Band.

Nolan received an M.M. in Percussion Performance and Chamber Music, as well as a Certificate in World Performance Studies, from The University of Michigan (Go Blue!). He received a B.M. in Percussion Performance from Lawrence University. His primary teachers include Doug Perkins, Ian Antonio, Dane Richeson, Nancy Zeltsman, Jeremy Epp, and Tom Sherwood.