NICHOLAS NATALIE
Nicholas Natalie is a saxophonist currently residing in NYC. He is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, improviser, and music educator.
Jazz journalist and historian Scott Yanow says, "a very skilled saxophonist who shows creativity and humor in his music... His own unpredictable playing and adventurous compositions show that he has plenty to say that is well worth hearing." In a review of his 2018 solo record, UK music critic Phil Stiles says, “an album for those who like to seek beyond the obvious and explore the hinterlands of what genre has to offer, Bitingly Right is jazz at its most exploratory and is all the more enjoyable for it.”
Mr. Natalie is a music teacher in Eastchester, New York. From 2013 to 2022, Natalie directed a variety of performing ensembles in Arlington and Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia. As a clinician, guest artist, and teacher, he has appeared at numerous schools in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, and Virginia. He has provided virtual masterclasses to saxophone students from Sichuan Conservatory of Music in Chengdu, China.
As a saxophonist, Mr. Natalie has been a featured soloist with the Duquesne University Wind Ensemble and Vienna Community Band. Additionally, he has performed with the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra, Loudoun Symphony Orchestra, Fairfax Wind Symphony, Capital Wind Symphony, and Fairfax City Band. His recorded work has received airplay on WNYU Radio, WQED-FM Pittsburgh, and WAMU’s Capital Soundtrack. He has performed at venues such as Manchester Craftsman Guild, Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Music Hall, Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, The Mansion at Strathmore, Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, Twins Jazz, and Tarrytown Music Hall.
As a composer, Mr. Natalie's works have premiered at the 2023 International Navy Band Saxophone Symposium and the 2016 North American Saxophone Alliance Conference. New music trio, ThreeForm, selected his piece 2D9INER in their 2019 Call for Scores and premiered the work at University of North Carolina School of the Arts in January 2020. Mr. Natalie was the recipient of the Emergent Seed Grant in 2021 for his work Primed for Panic. In January 2023, he premiered his latest work Aaaarrriiiaaa at George Mason University with longtime collaborator and pianist Dr. M. Maxwell Howard.
Natalie earned a Master of Music degree in saxophone performance at Duquesne University where he studied with saxophonists James Houlik and Mike Tomaro. As a graduate student, he was a member of the Green Light Saxophone Quartet. Additionally, he holds a Bachelor of Music degree in music education from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam and studied saxophone performance with Christopher Creviston. He has studied jazz improvisation with trumpeter Sean Jones and composition with David Heinick, Joseph Wilcox Jenkins, and Sarah Rimkus.