His music takes its inspiration from a wide array of sources including visual and cinematic art, anthropology and philosophy, and interactive art. Nicholas has received commissions from the Charleston Symphony, Occasional Symphony, Symphony Number One, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and SONAR New Music Ensemble, among others, and has had his music played by the Jacksonville Symphony and the Peabody Modern Orchestra. Nicholas was a winner of an EarShot New Music Reading through American Composer’s Orchestra and SONAR New Music Ensemble's RADARLab Competition as well as the Baltimore Choral Society's Student Composer Project. He was also a finalist for the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards in 2014, and was the Composer in Residence for Symphony Number One's 2016-17 season.