Pianist Nathaniel LaNasa discovers fresh possibilities of sonority, gesture, and storytelling in music — especially in music being written NOW. In early 2022, Nate played sixty performances of Ricky Ian Gordon’s new opera for two pianos, Intimate Apparel, at Lincoln Center Theater; the opera was subsequently broadcast on PBS Great Performances. He returned for LCT’s 2025-26 two-piano production of Amahl and the Night Visitors with Joyce DiDonato in the starring role. Nate has been on the music staff of Chautauqua Opera since 2023, where he has helped workshop new operas by Missy Mazzoli, Herschel Garfein, and Mark Adamo; he’s also workshopped new material by Huang Ruo at the Metropolitan Opera. He has premiered works for quarter-tone pianos by Dimitri Tymoczko at Princeton, made first recordings of chamber works by Tobias Picker for Tzadik, and prepared Gabriel Jenks’s opera “Desire” at Columbia’s Miller Theater. Works written for him include Tyler Harrison’s piano concerto, a protest song by Shawn Jaeger, and Molly Joyce’s YouSaidHeSaidSheSaid for vocalist and singing pianist. His premieres include works by Timo Andres, Nate Wooley, Matthew Ricketts, Iván Rodriguez, Jack Perla, Iain Bell, and Christopher Trapani.

A consummate collaborator, he has been praised for his “stormy lyricism” (The New York Times) as well as his “poise and elegance” (Feast of Music). His projects range from vocal partnerships to premieres and performances with dancers. “The magic,” Nate says, “lies in expanding the spaces of our shared inspiration. It’s all about dancing with the tension and flow of musical dialogue.” He has appeared with diverse artists including Will Liverman, Amy Owens, Sharon Harms, Robin Steitz, and Blythe Gaissert. In 2025, he collaborated with Leona Mitchell for her historic return to the New York stage, and in 2026, he performed Messiaen’s Harawi with mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh at London’s Wigmore Hall.

As winners of the 2019 Joy In Singing International Art Song Competition, Nate and partner baritone Gregory Feldmann made their sold-out Carnegie Hall debut in February 2020. The duo has also performed at the Musée d’Orsay and Royaumont Abbey. In 2025, they presented a recital at the Buxton Festival (UK). Nate also frequently partners with vocalist Lucy Dhegrae; they have performed together in the candlelit crypt of the Church of the Intercession, as part of the Resonant Bodies Festival, and at the American Music Festival (Albany Symphony). He’s also appeared in song partnerships at the Brooklyn Art Song Society, the Morgan Library, and New York Festival of Song. In 2022, Nate took charge of New York Festival of Song’s new music series, NYFOS Next, for which critics have lauded his “thematically coherent, well-paced, and musically varied” programs and his “exquisite” piano playing.

His solo projects include “Memory Prosthetic,” a recital/exhibition which explores the mechanics and aesthetics of music notation by re-notating Bach’s Goldberg Variations as a series of graphic scores, which are projected during live performance. His concerto appearances include Berg’s Kammerkonzert with TACTUS, John Cage’s Piano Concerto with New Juilliard Ensemble, Rachmaninoff’s second concerto with Bravura Philharmonic, and concerti by Mendelssohn, Bach, Mozart, Lyapunov, and Beethoven with New York ensembles.

Nate’s NYC credits include Alice Tully Hall, MoMA, and (le) Poisson Rouge. A graduate of the Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, and a former fellow at Tanglewood, Nate continues his studies with Robert Durso. He has taught at festivals in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and France, and maintains a private studio in Manhattan. Nate’s piano students are graduates of the Juilliard School, regulars in Broadway pits, and touring musicians; he’s prepared students for successful auditions at Curtis, Juilliard Pre-College, the Royal Academy of Music (London) and Zürich University of the Arts (ZHdK).  Nathaniel-LaNasa.com