Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles at Sweets Ballroom, 2016
Nicholas Kanozik is a dynamic artist and educator - distinguished as a pianist, visual artist, conductor, and composer - he integrates these skills through his leadership in the arts.
Kanozik has contributed to numerous global initiatives including Kronos Quartet's "50 for the Future" and programs supporting refugee youth at ARTogether. Examples of his impact have appeared in The LA Times, The New York Times, Mercury News, among others.
As the Education Coordinator for the Kronos Quartet's "50 for the Future" initiative, Nick directed Kronos Music: The Future is Now - a multi-year international education program connecting students and conservatories across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Kanozik also served as a consultant for Pierre Boulez Saal's 50FTF project in Berlin and the full presentation of Fifty for the Future at BOZAR Brussels during the Ars Musica Festival.
Nick has also played a vital role at Cal Performances at the Univeristy of CA Berkeley, bringing together thousands of students across California including Gustavo Dudamel's Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles which he had the honor to conduct in 2018.
From 2015 - 2022, Kanozik Chaired the Music Department at Oakland School for the Arts helping to propel the careers of hundreds of Oakland's youth. As an arts administrator, Mr. Kanozik has hosted master classes with luminaries such as Wynton Marsalis, Yo Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, and has worked to provide opportunities for Bay Area youth at PIXAR studios, CA Governor Jerry Brown's annual galas, YouTube and Google headquarters.
In addition to his music endeavors, Mr. Kanozik continues to develop a career in visual art through his business, Kanozik Visual Music. Working predominantly with watercolor, ink, and acrylic - a practice rooted in his early collaboration with Pauline Oliveros - he has presented solo and group exhibitions at The Compound Gallery, Mills College Gallery, The Peralta Station, Monash University in Australia, Abrams & Claghorn Gallery, Uma Gallery, and Wild Heart Gallery's International Juried Exhibition. His visual practice originated in an intuitive approach to writing music with colors and shapes that evolved into a distinct visual art practice. Kanozik was particularly honored to have his studio featured on the Netflix documentary The Creative Brain, hosted by neuroscientist and New York Times bestseller David Eagleman.
Kanozik is also the creator of Vessel - a fifteen-year immersive work for live instrumentalists, conductor, and objects. A complete compositional language in which the opening and closing of antique boxes and jars triggers live musical responses - placing the audience inside a navigable emotional landscape of sound, color, and form. The work has been performed at Mills College and the Berkeley Arts Festival.
Kanozik continues to develop his re-invented clavier à lumières (Light Organ). Since its inception in 2010, the instrument has premiered works by Kennedy Center's Artist in Residence, Mason Bates, it has been installed at multi-sensory education events, and "Future Spaces" festival. In 2023 Kanozik was a featured consultant at the Synesthesia Symposium and performance of Prometheus by the Antwerp Symphony in Belgium. In January 2026, he was invited to present the Light Organ at the International Scriabin Festival.
Mr. Kanozik was born in Munich, Germany and resides in Northern California.
