Nicole Keller

About Nicole

Nicole Keller is in demand as a concert artist, adjudicator, and clinician. She has concertized in the States and abroad, specializing in eclectic programs designed to expand the listener’s horizons. Performances with orchestras includes concertos, works for small chamber orchestra, and large works involving organ, harpsichord, and piano. She has extensive experience as a chamber musician and as a continuo player, including many performances of Bach’s St. Matthew and St. John Passions, the Christmas Oratorio, and the Mass in B Minor, in addition to a host of cantatas and baroque chamber music.

Keller is on faculty of the School of Music, Theatre, & Dance at the University of Michigan, where she also serves as University Organist. As a teacher, she strives to foster and model a commitment to excellence in performance, scholarship, and self-growth as students deepen their love of music and their instrument. Keller's work as a church musician includes work with volunteer and professional choirs and instrumental ensembles devoted to the highest level of music for worship. She has created organ and choral scholar programs at small and mid-size parishes, developed successful children's choir programs, and has led choirs on tour in the states and abroad including choral residencies at Bristol Cathedral, U.K., and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland.

Keller received a Performer’s Certificate and Master of Music in Organ Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York under the tutelage of David Higgs. While at Eastman, she studied continuo with Arthur Haas and improvisation with Gerre Hancock. She received a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music in Berea, Ohio, where she studied piano with George Cherry and Jean Stell and organ with Margaret Scharf.

Being an organist should start with a love for the instrument, its many possibilities, and the diversity of the repertoire. Teaching the organ should encourage that love, equip students with the skills needed to flourish, and fulfill our responsibility as caretakers of the craft. The best legacy we can leave for students is a commitment to excellence and a lifelong desire to learn and become the best musicians we can be.