Nichole Young, native of Freeport IL, started playing the harp at the age of ten through the harp program at her public school. At the time, Freeport School District was the only district in Illinois with the harp as part of the school’s music program. She studied with harpist Nanette Felix, until she graduated from high school, and then went on to study with Elizabeth Cifani, principal harpist with the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

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Nichole received a Bachelors degree in Harp Performance from Northern Illinois University and a Masters degree in Harp Performance from Northwestern University. During her studies, she was the recipient of the prestigious Eckstein Scholarship and the Keefer award. In 2002, she performed two duets with world-renowned Steel-pan artist, Liam Teague, on his Christmas recording A Christmas Gift produced by Sack records. She also performed on the debut recording of modern composer Dexter Morrill entitled Dexter Morrill: Three Concertos produced by Centaur Records, Inc. Recently, she was a featured performer in the Paidiea Project, a documentary on the music of ancient Greece.

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Nichole is currently an active free-lance musician and performs throughout Illinois and Iowa. She is the principal harpist for the Peoria Symphony, DuPage Symphony, and Illinois Valley Symphony, and she has performed with many orchestras in the area including the Rockford Symphony, Evanston Symphony, Skokie Valley Symphony, Fox Valley Symphony, Quad City Symphony, and Dubuque Symphony. She is a member of the Naperville Chamber Musicians and performs numerous chamber recitals with the group throughout the year. Nichole is also an active teacher and is the harp instructor at Fox River Academy of Music and Art in Oswego , IL and also at North Central College in Naperville, IL.