Ricklen Nobis attended Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington (piano studies with Margaret Saunders Ott), and graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (Robert Helps, Adolph Baller). He has had extensive experience as an orchestral pianist, serving as keyboardist with the old San Francisco Chamber Orchestra (Seiji Ozawa, conductor), the Oakland Symphony (Gerhard Samuel and Harold Farberman) and the San Antonio Symphony (Christopher Wilkins). He served as keyboardist for the Utah Symphony for twenty-six years, working with Varujan Kojiian, Joseph Silverstein, Keith Lockhart and numerous other distinguished guest conductors.

 Mr. Nobis is the co-founder of Salt Lake City's annual Vivaldi by Candlelight concert series, and acted as its musical director for 14 years. He currently is Music Director of Utah's Repertory Dance Theater, a position he has held for nearly thirty years. He worked closely for several years with actor Robert Redford in the designing, facilitating and administrating of the Film Composer's Lab at Redford's Sundance Institute. From 1997 through 1999 he traveled throughout the United States with the Third National Touring Company's production of Andrew Lloyd-Weber's "Phantom of the Opera", and returns to the company from time to time during each season.

For over two decades he acted as producer and host of a daily afternoon classical music program for National Public Radio affiliate KUER-FM, broadcast throughout the state of Utah and parts of neighboring states. The program also featured interviews with local and visiting artists from all disciplines, as well as presenting live, in-studio performances.

He is an active composer whose works are performed regularly, most recently in Iceland, China and Brazil. Numerous orchestras throughout America, including the Utah Symphony and the Boston Pops, have performed his arrangements. He has collaborated at the keyboard in recital with such artists as clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, violinist Joseph Silverstein and guitarist Pepe Romero with whom he toured internationally, presenting music for guitar and harpsichord.

His experience with vocalists is extensive, and includes working as studio accompanist and opera coach for many years with Naomiand Lowell Farr at the University of Utah. He worked for several years with Metropolitan mezzo-soprano Isola Jones, for whom he acted as accompanist, vocal-coach and collaboratorin the making of recordings. The two also made a tour of South America. He served for a summer season as studio accompanist for legendary American soprano Eleanor Steber at Temple University, and recently had the opportunity to work with mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, coaching the music of Monteverdi.

Ricklen is a member of the faculty at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, and maintains a studio of private students in Salt Lake City, teaching keyboard (piano and harpsichord), composition and music.