Nicholas Denton Protsack
-
Main Website || Soundcloud || Spotify || Bandcamp || Facebook
An ongoing aspiration of BMI Award-winning composer and cellist, Nicholas Denton Protsack (b. 1994), is to seek new connections between music and the natural world. Called a "(composer) to keep a close eye on" by the Canadian Music Centre, Nicholas’ ecologically inspired music frequently explores and blends notated mediums, recorded mediums, and experimental improvisations. His works have been performed internationally in a variety of concert settings, including in North America, Europe, and New Zealand.
Recent highlights in Nicholas’ compositional career include winning both a first and second prize in the 2023 SOCAN Foundation Young Composers Awards. He has also received commissions from institutions like the Toronto Summer Music Festival and the American Prize-winning Ensemble for These Times (E4TT).
Nicholas is also an active professional cellist that focuses specifically on new music. His projects as a cellist are often collaborative in nature, and frequently span both classical and avant-garde genres. He is a founding member of Moth Quartet in New Zealand as well as the Canadian-based groups Branchroot Ensemble and Sounds Like Things. While his main focus lies in chamber music, Nicholas has also performed as a soloist with orchestras including the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra.
Additionally, Nicholas is the founder and artistic director of Whatnot Records, a genre-defying independent music label that specializes in producing, promoting, and distributing experimental music in all its forms. Since early 2023, Nicholas has released a variety of collaborative and solo projects on the label, as well as music by other artists. His aim in the near future of Whatnot Records is to release a wide variety of experimental music, featuring an extensive roster of emerging and established artists from around the world.
Currently pursuing a PhD in music at Victoria University of Wellington, Nicholas studies under composers Michael Norris and Dugal McKinnon. His other mentors in composition include David Garner, and his major cello teachers include Jean-Michel Fonteneau, Jennifer Culp, Judith Fraser, and Morna Howie.
