Getting to know Nickolas Carlson

Originally published on The JOLT News on July 15, 2026

Earlier this year, this column addressed Nickolas Carlson's speech from the Olympia Chamber Orchestra (OCO) “Revolution” concert. Upon hearing that speech, I knew I needed to get together with Carlson and (hopefully) become his friend.  

Carlson wears a plethora of hats in our music community as OCO Music Director and Conductor, and Director of Music Ministry at The Lutheran Church of The Good Shepherd in Olympia.

Carlson also conducts the South Puget Sound Community College Symphony Orchestra (SPSCC), the Philharmonic Orchestra of Student Orchestras of Greater Olympia (SOGO), and is the Music Director for Pacific Northwest Theater.  

Getting to know Carlson, I have seen his kindness, passion for the arts, generous heart and community oriented mindset shine.  

I hope you enjoy getting to know Carlson as much as I have.

 

Conversation  

Carlson grew up on a farm in Kansas with a musical “hobbyist” family and in a small town that was very supportive of the arts and music in and out of its school system.  

“There were people when I was in elementary school and middle school who knew I was going to be a musician before I did,” Carlson said.

During our conversation, Carlson shared how his hometown has performed Handel’s “Messiah” every year since the 1880s, and holds the record for the longest continuing “Messiah” tradition in the United States.  

“I remember a woman who had been singing in the ‘Messiah’ chorus for like 60 years and when I was in college, she would tell me, ‘I remember when you were in middle school and you said you were going to grow up and conduct the Messiah one day.’”

Now Carlson has conducted the Messiah numerous times, including with our very own SOGO! 

“I had been accepted to Kansas State as an architecture major alongside being an organ major.” Carlson said.

"My high school band teacher said, ‘That is going to be quite a bit, are you sure you don’t want to just spend your days doing music instead of spending your days doing math and science all day?’ I thought about it and decided ‘Yeah, I would rather spend my days making music.’”  

At one point during our conversation, I asked Carlson what influences his music selection and program creation process. Oftentimes, Carlson will choose music that is profound, yet off the beaten path. One key component of Carlson’s process is getting to know the people in his ensembles.  

Spending a few hours with each ensemble each week, Carlson gets to know them quickly and what music will best suit each group’s qualities and personality. The more I have spoken with Carlson, the more evident it is that investing in the communities he is a part of is a major priority in his life.  

Working with a broad age range diversity, I asked Carlson about how he thinks we can get young people more involved in the arts.

This is how he responded:

“I think to separate out youth and kids, and to try to give them a different experience lessens the impact that music and live performance could have.

“Kids, especially younger kids, tend to have a smaller attention span or at least don’t have the societal pressure to pretend like they have the attention span that lasts an hour and a half at a concert. This leads a lot of ensembles to specifically do educational concerts, which are very important. 

“At Good Shepherd, we don’t send kids out for the sermon. We don’t have kids out in the back of the church for the service — they are up front experiencing it with everybody else.

“Letting kids experience art in the same way they see the adults around them experiencing art is really important and not ‘dumbing it down’ for them or saying, ‘Now you don’t understand this so we are going to explain this in small words to you.’ They do need those little bits and pieces to put together, but they also need to see the entire picture. I think kids are completely capable of consuming the entire picture and appreciating it.

“In terms of getting youth to come to live performances, I also think there is a lot of dividing up generations saying things like, ‘This is a Boomer thing’ or 'Millennial or Gen Z thing,' but the more that we can all experience the arts together and talk about them together (to hear and share the different life experiences we bring to the audience). Youth are incredibly thoughtful when you give them the chance and they can pull this really deep, emotionally intelligent information from a performance.” 

May we never underestimate one another.  

Intergenerational communication, lifelong love of the arts, appreciation for traditions, and the bravery to explore new things all begins in the audience.  

https://thejoltnews.com/stories/getting-to-know-nickolas-carlson,30059