Associate Professor

Chamber Music

B.A. (Grinnell)
M.A.T. (Colgate)
M.M. (Rice)
D.M.A. (Rice)

nathanc@mun.ca
Room: MU-2001
864-3024

Cellist Nathan Cook has been praised for his “authoritative yet relaxed” playing, his “sweet and pliant” sound, and “the combination of vigor and beauty” in his interpretation (Houston Chronicle). Along with fellow MUN faculty member Dr. Michelle Cheramy, Dr. Cook is a founding member of the Trinitas Chamber Ensemble (www.trinitasmusic.com), which has performed across Canada, in Washington, DC, and in numerous venues across the U.S. Midwest. He is also the cellist of the Atlantic String Quartet and principal cellist of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra (www.nsomusic.ca).

Dr. Cook has championed both early music performance and the works of living composers. He was the cellist for and co-Artistic Director of the Hot Earth Ensemble, which from 2008-2015 enriched the music scene in St. John’s with more than 20 concerts of early music involving guest artists from both on and off the island of Newfoundland. Cook has co-commissioned and premiered new chamber works by Clifford Crawley, Andrew Staniland, Asha Srinivasan, Karim Al-Zand, Andrew MacDonald, and Andrew Noseworthy while also giving continued life to recent compositions by other living composers such as Dorothy Chang, Dinuk Wijeratne, David L. McIntyre, Yuko Uebayashi, and Asha Srinivasan. His solo, concerto, and chamber performances have been heard regionally and nationally in Canada on CBC Radio, and regionally in the United States on NPR stations in Buffalo, New York; Houston, Texas; and across Iowa.

Dr. Cook hails from Appleton, Wisconsin and holds an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Grinnell College in Iowa as well as a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from Colgate University in New York. He received his masters and doctoral degrees in music at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston, Texas where he studied with Norman Fischer. Cook’s other teachers have included Terry King, Evan Jones, Richard Eckert, Andre Emelianoff and Einar Holm.