Casa Concert – 25 April 2015 Federico Nathan Trio

Federico Nathan Trio

Federico Nathan -Violin
Maximiliano Nathan- Vibraphone
Enrique Firpi- Percusión

In 2006, the brothers Federico and Maximiliano Nathan from Uruguay began playing their own compositions. After moving to Europe, the group began to expand its repertoire. Formed by musicians who want to apply all their passion and experience in the field of classical music and jazz into to create music without borders and limitations of any kind. They incorporate the jazz language into different styles and extend the possibilities of a traditional Jazz trio into a spontaneous and fresh proposal, which includes original songs and traditional melodies from the jazz, classical,tango, pop and rock world. Enrique Firpi, with its excellence in percussion, he is one of the key angles that completes the trio.

Violinist and Composer Federico Nathan was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1986. He began studying violin at the age of 8 with Nelson Govea.

In 1998 he won the Uruguay Jeunesses Musicales Competition.

From an early age, Mr. Nathan showed interest in the world of improvisation, which led him to perform in a wide range of styles, including Tango, Jazz and Rock, while continuing his study of classical music. At the age of only 14, Federico began to perform as a soloist with the Symphony Orchestra Sodre and Montevideo Philharmonic Orchestra. With that orchestra, he created “Jazz Philharmonic,” a successful show in Uruguay, acclaimed by critics and audiences.

His official debut as a classical soloist came in 2002 with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Montevideo as a result of a competition win.

In 2003, Mr. Nathan had the honor of being selected to participate in the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, representing Uruguay on a tour throughout the Americas. In the same year he won a full scholarship to study at the Reina Sofia Conservatory in Madrid under Professor Rainer Schmidt. While there, Mr. Nathan was selected to perform with his teacher in the International Music Festival of Santander. There he had the opportunity to receive lessons from Zakhar Bron, Silvia Marcovici, Joseph Silverstein, among others.

In 2004, Mr. Nathan received an award from Queen Sofia as the premiere violin student of the year.

In July 2005, Mr. Nathan participated in classes of Professor Mauricio Fuks at the Mozarteum International Music Festival in Salzburg, Austria. After this experience, he decided to go to the USA to audition for Professor Fuks at Indiana University and as a result received a full scholarship to study there. In the US, Mr. Nathan developed his career as a composer and jazz musician working with David Baker, Gilles Apap, Michel Camilo and Pablo Ziegler.

Mr. Nathan received an award of distinction from the Bank of Boston Foundation as “New Talent” in 2006. After graduating from Indiana, Didier Lockwood selected Mr. Nathan for a Jazz Course in his Paris Conservatory. He continued his studies there while performing with jazz groups.

Federico moved to Spain in 2010 after he won a contract with the National Orchestra of Spain. In order to expand his horizons in chamber music, he also pursued and won a string quartet position in the Reina Sofia Chamber Music Institute in Madrid under the guidance of Gunter Pichler (first violinist of the Alban Berg quartet). During his sojourn in Spain, Federico has participated as a part of the educational projects organized by the INAEM and the National Orchestra of Spain. In addition to his participation in various workshops in several high schools in Madrid, he has incorporated elements of acting into his music performances since he started studyng Improvisational Theater .

In January 2011, he was selected to join the YouTube Symphony Orchestra for performances at the Opera House in Sydney, Australia, including a Vivaldi Concerto with Richard Tognetti. This event was the largest live stream ever over YouTube, connecting 30.7 million streams on computers and a further 2.8 million streams on mobile devices.

In September of 2011, Mr. Nathan joined the Hanns Eisler Conservatory in Berlin with Professor Ulf Wallin and graduated with a Bachelor Degree.

In 2012 he won the Annual Award in the category of “Música Ciudadana” for his composition “Niños del Sur” in Montevideo. The same year he performed his premier of his first Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in his home town. In May of 2013, Federico Nathan Quintet won the “Best Band Award” at the Bucharest International Jazz Competition. With his projects, Federico has participated in major festivals of jazz such as Cuba’s “Jazz Plaza” in La Havana, “EUROPAfest” in Bucharest, “Clazz Continental Latin Jazz'” in Madrid, among others.

As a composer his works have been recorded by labels like Deutsche Grammophon and premiered in several countries, such as France, Spain, Germany, Uruguay and the United States. He continues to perform and compose for a wide range of soloists, groups and Orchestras. Since 2014 , Federico occupies the Second violin leader position at the Metropole Orchestra in the Netherlands.