Bio

Inspired by natural processes and acoustic phenomena, composer and percussionist Nathan Davis makes music that elucidates essential characters of instruments and the fragile athleticism of playing them.  He has received commissions from the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), the Calder String Quartet, the Ojai Festival (for Eighth Blackbird and an installation by sound-sculptor Trimpin), Meehan/Perkins Duo, TimeTable Percussion, Concert Artists Guild, and the Moving Theater Dance Company, and received awards from the Jerome Foundation, American Music Center, Meet the Composer Commissioning Music USA, Argosy Foundation, MATA, ASCAP, and the ISCM. 

Lincoln Center inaugurated the new Tully Scope Festival in 2011 with the premiere of Nathan's 30 minute site-specific work "Bells", performed by ICE and praised by Anthony Tommasini in the NYTimes as "an alluring and pensive musical experience".  Nathan's music has also been programmed at NYC's Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Le Poisson Rouge, Roulette, and at Darmstadt, Helsinki Musica Nova, and other festivals in North America, Poland, China, and Cuba.  Recordings of his music include a monograph of his chamber music performed by ICE entitled The Bright and Hollow Sky, recorded at the state-of-the-art EMPAC center, his electroacoustic percussion disc Memory Spaces, and pieces on flutist Claire Chase's debut Aliento and on Travel Diary from the Meehan/Perkins Duo. His music has also been featured on NPR's All Things Considered, on WNYC's New Sounds Live, and on Q2.

Also an active percussionist, Nathan performs as a member of ICE, and he plays original and commissioned works with cellist Ha-Yang Kim in the duo Odd Appetite.  He has recorded for Nonesuch, Tzadik, Mode, Kairos, New Albion, Bridge, BMOP, Karnatic Lab, and Cold Blue records.  A dedicated instructor, Nathan taught and led ensembles at Dartmouth College, Keene State College, and Franklin Pierce College, and he has given masterclasses on extended percussion techniques, composition, and electronics at CalArts, Rice, Baylor, Yale, the Longy School of Music, UMass Amherst, Georgia Tech, and the Akademia Muzycznain Krakow, Poland.  He has been in residence at the Walden School for Young Composers since 2000.

Nathan earned Bachelors degrees in both composition and percussion at Rice University, was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study at the Rotterdams Conservatorium in Holland, and subsequently received a Masters in Music from Yale University.  He also studied Karnatic rhythm and microtonality at the Amsterdams Conservatorium.

Photo by Adam Szczepaniak