Hi! Here’s a bit about me.
Hailing from sunny Brisbane, Australia, Nathan Gatenby is a London-based percussionist with a passion for orchestral and pedagogical performance.
Nathan has performed regularly as a percussionist and timpanist with orchestras including the Melbourne & Queensland Symphony Orchestras, and Orchestra Victoria. In 2024, he was the timpanist and percussionist for Cameron Mackintosh’s Asian tour of Miss Saigon, working with composer Claude-Michel Schönberg.
He has also performed alongside the Bolshoi Ballet, Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra & Wynton Marsalis, Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet, the 2018 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony, the West Australian Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia and Camerata Orchestras.
As a chamber and solo musician, Nathan has performed as a part of many top music festivals across Australia, including the Four Winds, RISING, Brisbane, and the ANAMset Festivals, as well as curating a performance in partnership with the National Gallery of Victoria. In London, he joined Susanna Mälkki to perform Sur Incises on the occasion of Boulez’s 100th anniversary, and has performed with internationally renowned percussion soloist Colin Currie.
Nathan was an inaugural member of the Melbourne Kaboom Percussion team for 3 years. Through almost 200 performances on homemade instruments, from buckets & bottles, to cans & cups, he has inspired almost 40,000 students across Australia to have fun making music with everyday items. Before joining Kaboom Percussion, Nathan developed his own school shows using instruments made entirely from vegetables, and his favourite instrument is the eggplant castanet.
Nathan joined the teaching faculty at Monash University, Melbourne while still a student himself, and has spent many years teaching musicians of all ages, from toddlers to undergraduates. He has been a visiting artist at universities in Australia and Asia, and a panellist for numerous competitions and auditions, including the Melbourne International Music Competition.
During his studies at the Australian National Academy of Music, and the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, Nathan won the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Snare Drum Award, was appointed principal percussionist of the Australian Youth Orchestra, won the Jim Massie Memorial Prize for runner-up to the best undergraduate classical musician, and he was a finalist in both the ANAM Concerto Competition and the Australian Percussion Gathering Competition. Between his professional engagements, he is also completing a Masters at the Royal Academy of Music, London.
In his spare time, Nathan loves exploring his home city, wherever that might be, looking for the trendiest cafes. On Sundays, he can often be found in his local church’s worship team on drums, guitar, and piano, or if you’re unlucky, he’ll be behind the microphone!
