Nathan Andersen
I grew up in Oklahoma, set down my Nintendo, said goodbye to the Super Mario Brothers and picked up a guitar at the age of 12. Not all at the age of 12, but the last of it. Anyway, the point is: from then on, I've been dedicated (with a few crazy mistakes like becoming a computer programmer for a short while) -- truly dedicated to living and breathing music. I play jazz improve, sing German Lieder, opera, musical theater, I write, I listen, I learn. And I LOVE it. I moved to the city in June of 2000 and started throwing myself into the crazy world of musical theater, opera, cabaret and earning a living.

The coolest show I've done so was a production of Steven Schwartz Children of Eden at the DeBaun Auditorium in Hoboken where I played the part of Father (the God character). Another favorite experience, and this was EXPERIENCE in the strangest sense of the word, was playing a cross-dressed Phyllis in WOW's production of Iolanthe. For the un-initiated, that means I had stuffed socks under my dress and a gigantic bee-hive wig. "WOW" is right.Some of my other credits include, Gondoliers, Patience, , The Merry Widow, The Music Man, The Wizard of Oz and H.M.S. Pinafore. Summer 2002, I'm working on Once on this Island.Just before moving to the city, I had the cool honor of soloing with the Yale Glee Club on the spiritual "Ain't Got Time to Die" to a packed Archdiocese in Havana, Cuba. For three glorious months in 1999, I toured with the Yale Whiffenpoofs, singing lead on Cole Porter's "Too Darn Hot" and on Irish tenor favorite "Down by the Sally Gardens". I had the amazing opportunity to travel to over 20 different countries with the "Whiffs": Japan, China, Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, Israel, Sweden, Brazil. While at Yale, I also had the honor to sing under the great choral director Robert Shaw and on another occasion, to sing the tenor solo in the fifth movement of Rachmaninoff's Vespers.I'm working my way up in Musical Theater, Opera, Acting, while learning languages, studying teaching methods and generally having a fantastic time.

Hear a 2 minute clip of Nate singing "Born to be Blue" in mp3 format. recorded September, 2005

Hear a 2 minute clip of Nate singing "That's all" in mp3 format. recorded July 2005

Hear a 2 minute clip of Nate singing "Tenderly" in mp3 format. -- new recording July 2005 (I'm still learning and improving!)

Hear a 2 minute clip of Nate singing "Tenderly" in mp3 format. -- old recording May 2004

Hear a 1 minute clip of Nate singing "Round Midnight" in mp3 format. (2004)

Songwriter/Original Music:
I write songs. You probably haven't heard any, but I'll have you know, a song I did for college computer music class, "West Side Thrilla" was named one of the top-10 hip hop songs of 1999 on MP3.com. If you can still find it on MP3.com, you're in for a good chuckle.

Teaching:
Sometimes I learn more from my students than they learn from me. For example, when a student of mine has a problem, and it's her big problem, in the process of helping her through it, I end up learning about that problem, which might have been something I'd never really thought about much. I'll read up on it, we'll work on it for a couple weeks, and the next think you know, we have a method for fixing it. Finding those methods has become the most enjoyable treasure hunt for me. And I'm getting good at it. They're all variations on the same problems. I've been helping my students get such wonderful results, and that's become the most wonderful thing in the world for me. I got into this so I wouldn't have to arrange catering for 11 AM meetings, but I've fallen in love with teaching. I don't know if you can imagine how great I feel at the end of the day when several of my students that day have made some real progress, maybe even a breakthrough and they feel just wonderful and excited, and can't wait to practice on the new discoveries for the next week. That's what learning is all about. That excitement. And I've always been that way about my own learning, but now I get to share it, and that for me is the most wonderful thing. I just pinch myself that I've found such a wonderful career.