Nathaniel is currently a Senior in college at the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studies guitar performance with Jason Vieaux. He began his guitar studies at the age of seven with Michael Miller and continued his studies with Michael Miller all throughout Middle School and Highschool. Throughout early childhood, he won many competitions including Childbloom’s Best Picker East of the Mississippi and Best Picker of the South, first place in the Southern Guitar Festival in Columbia, South Carolina, as well as placing third place in the Columbus International Guitar Competition. At the age of 11 he won Best Performer for the Junior Music Club and went on to represent the region as a Conference Performer for the SCFMC Junior Day.  He has been the recipient of multiple scholarships awarded by the Lawson Academy and has been featured on their competitive Shining Stars recitals, which highlights the top 5% of the Academy’s students. 

Nathaniel has also won many competitions throughout high school. He won the High School Division of the Appalachian Guitar Festival Competition twice and, while a sophomore in high school, placed second in their College Division. He also won first place in the Columbia Southern Guitar Festival three times. He was a finalist for the MasterWorks Festival Concerto Competition at the age of 16 and he performed his first concerto at the age of 15 with the Piedmont Chamber Orchestra. At the age of 18, Nathaniel soloed with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra.

Nathaniel has performed in masterclasses and lessons with many prominent guitarists, including Jason Vieaux, Colin Davin, Christopher Parkening, Doug James, Rene Izquierdo, Rovshan Mamedkuliev and many others.

In Nathaniel’s time at CIM, he has performed over 20 solo recitals throughout the states of Ohio, South Carolina, North Carolina and Kentucky. He has performed in multiple chamber groups, including duets with mainly Flute, Violin and Voice, Trios with string groups and quartets in mixed ensembles. During his Junior year at CIM, he placed third in the open division at the Queens international guitar competition in Charlotte North Carolina.
During Nathaniel’s Junior year, he was selected by CIM faculty as the “most gifted classical guitarist.”

Nathaniel started Conducting at the age of 15, receiving his first masterclass with the late maestro, Dwight Oltman in Waynesville North Carolina. Since then, Nathaniel has studied closely with many conductors such as Dark Butorac, Delta David Gier, Miriam Burns, David Chan, Kathleen Horvath, and many more. He often works with the Case Western Symphony Orchestra at CWRU, and the Masterworks Festivals orchestra and large ensembles within the festival.