Born in 1992 in Baarn, The Netherlands, into a family of professional musicians: his father is a trumpet player and his mother is a violist. The piano, which he took up at age six, quickly became the faithful companion for expressing a love of music that, until today, thrives as much on opera, orchestra, and chamber music as on the piano repertoire.
After an highly acclaimed recital in a sold-out Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Dutch music magazine De Nieuwe Muze dubbed Nicolas ‘the young freethinker among Dutch pianists’.

Nicolas has performed at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Philharmonie Berlin, Philharmonie Essen. In addition, other tours have taken him to Cuba (Havana Mozart Festival), Korea (Changwon and Tongyeong), Italy and France.
He has performed with various orchestras in The Netherlands under conductors including Jurjen Hempel, Conrad van Alphen and Roberto Beltran-Zavala . 

In 2013 Nicolas released his debut album with works by Bach, Beethoven and Brahms which was favourably reviewed.
2019 saw the release of Nicolas’ second album, Chopin Sonatas No. 2 & 3, released on vinyl and digital platforms. ‘Van Poucke brings out Chopin’s strong – sometimes even demonic – side, in a both virtuoso and sensitive manner’ wrote NRC. An accomplished chamber musician he has worked with Colin Carr, Christiaan Bor, Claudio Bohorquez, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Godfried Hoogeveen, Gil Sharon, Andreas Reiner, Igor Roma and Pavel Vernikov. With violist Daniel Palmizio he recorded Bach’s complete Gamba sonatas and Brahms Opus 120 which will be released on Zefir Records. Concerts are scheduled for summer 2020 in Accedemia Chigiana in Sienna among others.

Nicolas has been making music together with his sister, cellist Ella van Poucke, for about as long as he can remember. In season 2018/19 they undertook their most ambitious project to date and performed Beethoven’s complete music for piano & cello in Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam and in Berlin. In 2020 they plan to record this repertoire and have more concerts scheduled with the sonata cycle in Italy, Germany and in The Netherlands.

Nicolas studied with David Kuyken and Jan Wijn (Conservatory of Amsterdam). Furthermore, he has received the advice of Murray Perahia, Alfred Brendel and Martha Argerich.