Cellist Nathan Le is a second-year master’s student in the New England Conservatory/Harvard dual-degree program, where he is a student of Laurence Lesser. Prior to his studies in Boston, he studied with Ronald Leonard at the Colburn Music Academy and with Ruslan Biryukov.
A Los Angeles native, Nathan has performed with many orchestras in the Los Angeles area, such as the Torrance Symphony, the Culver City Symphony, the San Fernando Valley Symphony, the New West Symphony, and the Dana Point Symphony, performing cello concerti by Elgar, Haydn, Saint-Saëns, and Tchaikovsky. The Culver City Examiner noted that he “[performed] flawlessly” and praised his “superb mastery of technique…and artistry.”
Nathan’s artistry has been nationally and internationally acclaimed. In 2015, he was invited by the First Lady of Armenia to perform in a music festival commemorating the centennial of the Armenian genocide. He has also garnered top prizes in competitions such as the Janigro International Cello Competition in Zagreb, Croatia, the Tchaikovsky International Competition for Young Musicians in Moscow, Russia, the Stulberg International String Competition in Kalamazoo, MI, and the Schadt String Competition in Allentown, PA. Nathan has appeared on the NPR radio show “From the Top,” performed on the L’Ermitage Foundation Concert Series with renowned pianist Robert Thies, and was the winner of the 2017 YMF/ASCAP Foundation Leiber and Stoller Scholarship Competition.
Nathan is also a dedicated chamber musician whose groups have performed works by composers as diverse as Felix Mendelssohn and Mieczysław Weinberg, in ensembles ranging from piano trio to string septet. During the spring semester of 2022, he had the opportunity to perform Schubert’s Piano Trio in E-flat Major, D 929, in the New England Conservatory Chamber Music Gala Concert, which was held in the historic Jordan Hall. In the chamber music setting, Nathan has worked with esteemed coaches such as Merry Peckham, Vivian Weilerstein, Yeesun Kim, Pei-Shan Li, and the members of the Parker Quartet. He is also a member of the Brattle Street Chamber Players, a conductorless string chamber orchestra comprised of Harvard undergraduates and alumni.
