ABOUT
Eric Nathan (b. 1983) has been described as writing music that is “as diverse as it is arresting,” with a “constant vein of ingenuity and expressive depth (San Francisco Chronicle) and a marvel of musical logic” (Boston Classical Review).
Nathan has written extensively for orchestra, receiving three commissions from the Boston Symphony Orchestra, including the space of a door, released on Naxos, and Concerto for Orchestra, which opened the BSO’s 2019–20 season under Andris Nelsons. His orchestral work Opening, co-commissioned by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation, received a nationally broadcast premiere on PBS with Ken-David Masur. His recent flute concerto, The Seas Between Us, was commissioned by a consortium of five orchestras in the U.S. and México for flutist Alejandro Escuer.
Nathan has received additional commissions from the New York Philharmonic, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Barlow Endowment, and Fromm Music Foundation. His music has been presented at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the New York Philharmonic Biennials, Tanglewood, Aspen, Aldeburgh, and Cabrillo festivals, and the Library of Congress. A recipient of the Rome Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship, he has also received a Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as fellowships from MacDowell, Civitella Ranieri, Copland House, and Yaddo.
Recent premieres include the piano trio Dream Scenes at Tonhalle Düsseldorf and The Black Diamond Copenhagen. His Double Concerto No. 2, was commissioned by Yellow Barn, The Juilliard School, and New York Classical Players for violists Hsin-Yun Huang and Misha Amory, and the Parker, Ariel, and Jupiter Quartets. It will receive its China premiere in April 2026 at the Tianjin Juilliard School, performed by the QingXin Ensemble and with the composer conducting. Interdisciplinary works include Division of Time, created with National Sawdust, VisionIntoArt, Gandini Juggling, and Jeffrey Zeigler, and Erratics for Disklavier piano in collaboration with puppeteer Dan Hurlin.
Nathan’s two-CD set Missing Words (New Focus Recordings, 2022), praised as “brilliantly original” (Musical America), was recently presented as a complete cycle by Collage New Music and conductor Anna Handler in Boston. A composer portrait at Yellow Barn and recordings with Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Chelsea Music Festival have further highlighted his work, including an upcoming Orchid Classics release of his two Double Concertos.
Nathan’s Violin Concerto (“The Mountains We Climb”) was commissioned by a consortium of eight orchestras across the U.S. including the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, for world premiere in 2026 by conductor Ruth Reinhardt and violinist Yevgeny Kutik, with additional premieres by a consortium of violinists including Curtis Stewart and Stefan Jackiw through 2028-29. Additional recent and upcoming works include a new string quartet for the Balourdet Quartet and What Is Home?, commissioned by Eighth Blackbird, Collage New Music, and Left Coast Chamber Ensemble.
Nathan is Artistic Director of Collage New Music in Boston, Composer-in-Residence of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School, and Associate Professor of Music at Brown University. He previously served as Composer-in-Residence of the New England Philharmonic for six seasons. He holds degrees from Cornell, Indiana University, and Yale. His compositions are published by Just a Theory Press. Learn more at www.ericnathanmusic.com.
ON NATHAN'S MUSIC
"Eric Nathan communicates meaningfully about life by presenting a range of musical emotions and characters in works such as Missing Words and Concerto for Orchestra. From serious to humorous to heartrending to joyful, his compositions are evocative and tell stories. His explorations of different inspirations, images, colors, harmonies, and textures are bound together in logical formal-designs and cohere into personal luminous soundscapes."
- American Academy of Arts and Letters Ceremonial program (2022)