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

Nolan has 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 is the Operations Assistant for the GRAMMY® Award-winning quartet Third Coast Percussion, and Orchestra Manager and Librarian for the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra. He received an M.M. in Percussion Performance and Chamber Music, as well as a Certificate in World Performance Studies, from The University of Michigan. He received a B.M. in Percussion Performance from Lawrence University. Aside from music, Nolan is passionate about coffee and enjoys watching the English Premier League.

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