Biography

An exciting young performer, violist Nolan Prochnau regularly performs in and around West Chester, PA, their hometown. A graduate of West Chester University, in 2021, they were honored to receive the Undergraduate String Quartet scholarship at the school, an ensemble with whom they performed a full concert each semester.

Chamber music is at the core of Prochnau’s education. As a member of the Undergraduate String Quartet at West Chester University, they have performed numerous works across the repertoire, including the music of Haydn, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Villa-Lobos. Seeing the impact of chamber music in their own education, Prochnau founded the Brandywine String Quartet in 2022 with other educators. As an ensemble, the quartet has performed for retirement homes, schools, and music camps, performing both accessible music and standards of the repertoire at a high level. In addition to performance, the quartet educates young musicians at festivals, helping to promote chamber music in the younger generations.

An excellent orchestral player, Prochnau has performed new and standard works with a variety of ensembles. They have played with Berks Sinfonietta and the Pennsylvania Sinfonia, and have been the principal violist of the West Chester University Orchestras. In the summers of 2022 and 2023, Prochnau attended the Fresno Orchestra Summer Academy, where they performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11. The 2022 performance of the Mahler symphony was recorded and released in the fall of 2024.

Prochnau is a longtime church musician, currently serving as the music director for the Jarrettown United Methodist Church. There, they direct the choir and handbell choir and accompany services on organ and piano. Previously, Prochnau worked for and volunteered their talents at churches of a varying denominations.

Prochnau currently studies at Temple University with Prof. Kerri Ryan, where they expect to complete their Master’s degree this coming Spring. Their Bachelor’s degree was earned at West Chester University, where they studied with Prof. Adriana Linares and recieved regular chamber music coachings from members of the Dalí Quartet.