Nickolas Carlson is a conductor, organist, and collaborative pianist from Lindsborg, KS. Nickolas is the music director and conductor of the Olympia Chamber Orchestra and Olympia Opera Theatre, and Director of Music Ministry at The Lutheran Church of The Good Shepherd in Olympia, WA. In addition, he is the Music Director for Pacific Northwest Theater. In the fall of 2022, Nickolas traveled to Bulgaria to guest conduct the Vratsa Symphony with soloists Hye-Kyeong Cho and Crystal Zimmerman.

Nickolas received his Masters of Music in Orchestral Conducting from Wichita State University under Dr. Mark Laycock in the spring of 2016. He received his Bachelors of Music in Organ Performance from Bethany College in Lindsborg, KS under Dr. Melody Steed. In addition to his studies at Wichita State, Nickolas has also studied or participated in masterclasses with Dianne Wittry, Anna Edwards, and Roupen Shakarian.

Nickolas has guest conducted with the South Puget Sound Community College Symphony Orchestra, Messiah Singalong in Chehalis, WA, the Pacific Northwest Chamber Orchestra, and the Bethany College/Lindsborg Orchestra. He was the music director for WSU’s production of J.P. Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes, a collaboration between the Opera and Dance departments, in the spring of 2016. In the summer of 2018, he conducted Handel’s Rinaldo with Chicago Summer Opera.