percussion

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, 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.

In February, 2011, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center will present a 30 minute site-specific work to open the new Tully Scope Festival. 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 his electroacoustic percussion cd Memory Spaces, flutist Claire Chase's debut Aliento, and a forthcoming monograph longplay from ICE, recorded at the state-of-the-art EMPAC center.

Nathan is the percussionist for the International Contemporary Ensemble (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. Nathan taught percussion and led ensembles at Dartmouth 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 Muzyczna in Krakow, Poland. www.nathandavis.com

Performances

Moonshine Room at Club Café | November 4, 2003