Nathan is director of the Southwold Music Trust, which seeks to make music central to the town of Southwold, on the Suffolk coast.
Beginning in the summer term 2022 the Southwold Music Trust committed to provide funding to Southwold Primary School for the purposes of employing a professional choir and singing teacher throughout the year, for all children in years 3-6. The school choir has since performed with great aplomb at the Southwold Arts Festival market place stage, as well as performing in school concerts for end of year, Harvest and Christmas festivals. Other recent activity has been dominated on the fallout of the pandemic – staging concerts both outdoors and to socially distanced audiences in St Edmund’s Church, Southwold, as well as streaming specially tailored music live into local schools and care homes. The Trust was also able to encourage giving to local musicians in financial difficulty by taking collections on their behalf.
Pre-pandemic the Trust’s work included facilitating collaborations between local primary schools and Jubilee Opera, as well as the staging of Snappy Operas (new compositions for young performers by Mahogany Opera Group) in three local schools.
Along with its sister organisation, the Southwold Concert Series, the Southwold Music Trust has staged events ranging from contemporary music and semi-staged opera to more light-hearted festive Christmas singalongs. These concerts have often supported local artists, choirs and instrumental ensembles.
Nathan served as Artistic Director of the Alwyn Music Festival for two years (2019 and 2020/2021), staging concerts and other events in various venues on the Suffolk coast. The festival was founded by the William Alwyn Foundation to provide a platform for the music of the composer William Alwyn and his wife, Doreen Carwithen, to support music by living British composers, and to continue Alwyn’s legacy as an educator through the support and encouragement of artists at the outset of their careers.
Since 2016 Nathan has also curated a number of concerts in aid of Wardens Trust, held at their beautiful hall on the Suffolk coast near Thorpness. These events have built awareness of Wardens’ work and raised funds for their ongoing care and activities with disabled people.
From 2006 to 2010 Nathan was director of the Chacombe Music Festival, an annual chamber music and song festival in the beautiful Oxfordshire village. The legacy of this festival today is Sophie’s Barn, a haven in the Oxfordshire countryside for musicians and actors looking for a flexible, welcoming rehearsal space and supportive audience for sharing new ideas.
