Graduate of the Conservatoire de Strasbourg (class of Emmanuel Séjourné), he has been a member of Kwartludium contemporary music ensemble since 2002. He has performed at major contemporary music festivals in Poland and abroad, including WDR Radio Festival (Cologne), Unsound (New York), Nuove Musiche (Teatro Massimo in Palermo), Daegu International Contemporary Music Festival (DCMF, South Korea), Iš Arti (Kaunas), Randspiele (Berlin), Musica Viva (Lisbon), and the Beijing Modern Music Festival. As a chamber musician, he has given performances in such prestigious venues as London’s Southbank Centre – Royal Festival Hall, New York’s Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, Lviv and Warsaw Philharmonics, as well as NOSPR Katowice. He appeared in the project Kwadrofonik and Guests, performing the flagship minimalist composition Music for 18 Musicians by Steve Reich. 

Nowicki is the vice-president of Foundation for New Music Kwartludium. He curated the New Music Days in Gdańsk (2016). He produced, composed and coordinated work on the album Paweł Nowicki / 3 City Ensemble – Przypływy / Tides (co-funded by Society of Authors ZAiKS, STOART, President of Gdańsk, the Marshal of the Pomorskie Voivodeship, and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage). Since 2003, Nowicki has given numerous premieres of solo and chamber music at Warsaw Autumn. 

With pianist Piotr Nowicki he plays in Nowicki/Nowicki Duo, which performs numerous works written specifically for them. Their CD Varia (DUX 2023) comprises premiere presentations of works by such composers as Tadeusz Wielecki, Artur Kroschel, Maciej Jabłoński, Piotr Peszat, Piotr Jędrzejczyk, Magdalena Gorwa, and Andrzej Dziadek. 

As theatre music composer, he has collaborated with Miniatura City Theatre since 2012 (music for Fahrenheit and What’s Up with the Devil, dir. Michał Derlatka). His major film music projects include recording Maciej Cieślak’s soundtrack for Bartosz Konopka’s much discussed documentary Rabbit à la Berlin. 

Nowicki has won prizes in such international contemporary music competitions as Gaudeamus Interpreters in Rotterdam and the 1st Clermont-Ferrand International Vibraphone Competition. He also dedicates much time to teaching. With Kwartludium in January 2016, he conducted contemporary music workshops for Australian elementary and high school pupils. In October 2018, he was named Teacher of the Year in a national competition for the best lesson on Polish music held by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw. In 2022 he received the Mayor of Gdańsk Award for his teaching work. In 2020 he obtained his DMA degree from the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk.