Congratulations to Dan Nichols, recording engineer on our GRAMMY® nominated album Perpetulum, for earning two other GRAMMY® nominations this year! We are grateful to work with Dan frequently in Chicago

The nominations are out for the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, and the list includes current NIU School of Music faculty, staff, alumni and students! The ceremony will be held Sunday, January 26 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Dan Nichols, Head of Recording Services in the School of Music is nominated in three categories, where he is joined by a current student, an alumna and faculty.

Nichols was the recording engineer on “Fanm D’ayiti” by Nathalie Joachim and Spektral Quartet, and assistant engineers were current Master of Music Recording Arts student Qi Yu, and Rachel Frazier, a 2019 graduate of the Bachelor of Arts program in Recording Arts.  “Fanm D’ayiti” is nominated for Best World Music Album.

Nichols and School of Music adjunct faculty member Mark Alletag served as assistant engineers on “American Originals 1918” by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, which is nominated for Best Classical Compendium.

There will be some friendly School of Music competition at the Grammys this year.

The Avalon String Quartet, artists-in-residence in the School of Music performed the track “Aqua” on Harold Meltzer’s “Songs and Structures” album, which is also nominated in the Best Classical Compendium category.

Nichols won a Grammy in 2016 for his work as an engineer in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance category on “Third Coast Percussion | Steve Reich.” 

The Avalon String Quartet are Blaise Magniere (violin), Marie Wang (violin), Anthony Devroye (viola) and Cheng-Hou Lee (cello).