Degrees:

• M.M., University of North Texas (Jazz Composition)
• B.A., University of North Texas (Jazz Performance, guitar)

Biography

Nathan was born in 1980 Seoul, South Korea. As a child, he exhibited much musical talent through singing in churches and schools. He first grabbed an acoustic guitar in his church at the age of 14 and began to build up a special relationship with the instrument since then. After the high school graduation, Nathan performed in churches and festivals in Seoul as a band member or an independent guitarist.

In 2000, he moved to U.S. and started to live in Philadelphia, PA. with his family. After few years of helping out his family to settle down in their new homeland, he moved to Dallas and started to study jazz with wonderful educators like Richard DeRosa and Fred Hamilton in University of North Texas to pursue his musical career more seriously. While he was in undergraduate and graduate programs, Nathan wrote and arranged songs for local artists, high school and college jazz ensembles, and church bands in the DFW area. Also, he performed with many wonderful musicians on- and off-campus at the various places: musicals in local theaters, various concerts in local churches and jazz festivals, U.S. concerts of the well-known artists from Korea like Duk-kyu Ha.

Educating people has been another important part of Nathan’s life. He has given guitar lessons to hundreds of people privately and in various music studios. Several past students are working as professional musicians in Korea. He loves about the fact that music can change people’s lives to more positive direction, and emphasizes how important it is to educate not only the music majors but non-music-majors as well, so that more people can be involved in music in their everyday life.