He is a cellist and teacher born in Altadena, California, to a musical family with his father playing the viola on a non-professional basis.
He began his musical studies from the time he was six years old with the University of Southern California’s Professor of Cello, Eleanore Schoenfeld and when he was 13 he attended the university’s newly established Institute for Special Music Studies where he would study cello and chamber music with teachers such as William Primrose and Jascha Heifetz.
He was a co-founder and principal cellist of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and after his graduation he was the assistant to one of his teachers, Gregor Piatigorsky, for five years.
In 1977 he became the Principal Cellist for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and went on to win acclaimed competitions such as the Naumberg Competition for Cello and the International Tchaikovsky Competition, where he is still the only cellist to win the first prize. This would lead him to gaining much recognition in classical music circles and he has since given many solo recitals all over the world as well as appearing at many chamber music festivals and with orchestras such as the New York, Los Angeles, Dresden and Czech Philharmonics, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewendhaus Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra .
Making several recordings since becoming acquainted with Johnny Marks, he can be heard on albums such as Orientale, Rejoice: A String Quartet Christmas: Volume 2, Glazunov: Five Novelettes and String Quintet in A Minor, Rosen Plays Bach, Nathaniel Rosen Plays Tchaikovsky & Shostakovich, Bach: Cello Suites and Reverie: Romantic Music for Quiet Times.
As a teacher he has been on the faculty of the University of Illinois and the Manhattan School of Music as well as having associations with the New Hampshire and Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts.
Recordings
Adeste Fidelis (John Francis Wade)
John Marks Records JMR 12 (CD: Rejoice!)
Violin – Arturo Delmoni
Violin – Alexander Romanul
Viola – Katherine Murdock
Cello – Nathaniel Rosen
All Through The Night (Traditional)
John Marks Records JMR 18 (CD: A String Quartet Christmas, Volume 2)
Violin – Arturo Delmoni
Violin – Nina Bodnar
Viola – Natasha Lipkina
Cello – Nathaniel Rosen
Angels We Have Heard on High (Traditional)
John Marks Records JMR 12 (CD: Rejoice!)
Violin – Arturo Delmoni
Violin – Alexander Romanul
Viola – Katherine Murdock
Cello – Nathaniel Rosen
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