Nathan Watts - cello

Originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Nathan Watts currently lives in Frankfurt am Main. As a cellist, he is always searching for ways to keep contemporary music and improvisation current and accessible through diverse programming, collaboration, and working closely with composers. He is currently a member of the Mivos Quartet, Broken Frames Syndicate, WOVEN, and the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Leaders. As a member of the Contemporary Leaders, Nathan is a co-curator for the Forward Festival, performs in the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, and coaches at the Lucerne Festival Academy. He also performs regularly as a guest with Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Reflektor, and Oh ton-ensemble. Most recent solo projects include recording the solo cello preludes of Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson, and a self-produced improvisation album inspired by meditations from the bedroom window called “The Invention of Listening”.  Deep Listening is a practice that shapes the way he exists as a musician, and pushes him to create musical situations that meet the time and place they exist in.  Nathan holds a Bachelor of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music studying with Stephen Geber, a Master of Music at Rice University with Desmond Hoebig, and a Masters from the International Ensemble Modern Academy at the HfMDK Frankfurt with Ensemble Modern.