A violist, Nickrenz received his first music lessons from a country fiddler and gave his first performances in a dance band with his father, an amateur jazz pianist. When he was 18 he entered the Curtis Institute of Music. He left three years later to become violist and pianist in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and a founding member of the Lenox String Quartet. He went on to found the Vermeer Quartet, the New Chamber Quintet, and the Orpheus Trio. He helped create “Third Stream Music” with the Modern Jazz Quartet and was a member of the Claremont String Quartet. In addition, Nickrenz has appeared on “Live from Lincoln Center” and the “The Today Show,” and has been profiled by People Magazine.

Nickrenz has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, South America, Africa, and the Far East; at the White House; as a frequent guest with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; and at the Casals, Spoleto, Marlboro, and Tanglewood Festivals. He was a founding faculty member of the North Carolina School for the Arts and has taught at the New England Conservatory of Music.

In 1975, Nickrenz was named Director of Chamber Music at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). During his 13 years at BAM he presented artists from all over the world and produced three festivals of traditional American country music. From 1978 to 1995 he served as Director of the popular Chamber Music Concerts at the Spoleto Festivals in Charleston, North Carolina; Spoleto, Italy; and Melbourne, Australia. He remained Chamber Music Director in Spoleto, Italy until 2003, and was director of the chamber music program at the New World Symphony, Miami Beach, Florida, until 2009.

Mr. Nickrenz is married to flutist Paula Robison and has two daughters—Erika Nickrenz, pianist of the Eroica Trio, and Elizabeth Nickrenz, graduate student of Human Development at the University of Chicago.