ARTIST STATEMENT:
All of my music is informed by a deep interest in the immediate expressiveness of harmony, timbre, and process. I love figuring out ways to use patterns and processes to tell a colorful story. My portfolio is eclectic, reflecting my ranging curiosity and appreciation for a variety of traditions and styles, particularly the ambiguity of impressionism and the meditative and relentlessly developing processes of minimalism and the avant-garde. Each composition is new territory for me: a new puzzle and a new sonic world to explore. -- Natalie Draper

SHORT BIO:
Praised for her "individual and strong voice" (Colin Clarke, Fanfare Magazine), composer Natalie Draper explores character and evocative sound-worlds in her music. She has written works for a variety of ensembles and performers, including organist Anne Laver, Albany Symphony's Dogs of Desire, Beth Willer and Peabody Institute's NEXT Ensemble, and Grammy-nominated pianist Kara Huber. Draper's music has been included on recordings by pianist Mirna Lekić, Akropolis Reed Quintet, soprano Danielle Buonaiuto, and Symphony Number One. She has been featured in articles in Vox Humana, I Care If You Listen, and Van Magazine. Draper has held residencies and fellowships at the Ucross Foundation, the Tanglewood Music Center, the I-Park Foundation, Yaddo, and St. David's Episcopal Church in Baltimore, MD. She is an assistant professor in the music theory and composition department at the Setnor School of Music at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York.

LONG BIO:
Praised for her "individual and strong voice" (Colin Clarke, Fanfare Magazine), composer Natalie Draper explores character and evocative sound-worlds in her music. Recent projects include a wind ensemble piece for Syracuse University's tour of the United Kingdom, a marimba solo for Mark DeMull, and a piano solo for Mark Stevens. Draper is currently working on an album of organ and organ+ works for Anne Laver. She has written music for a variety of ensembles and performers, including Albany Symphony's Dogs of Desire, Beth Willer and Peabody Institute's NEXT Ensemble, and Grammy-nominated pianist Kara Huber. Her music has been performed in many concert spaces, events, and festivals, including the Albany Symphony's American Music Festival, the DiMenna Center for Classical Music, Spectrum, Roulette, Strange Beautiful Music, the Tanglewood Music Center, and more. Draper's music can be found on albums by pianist Mirna Lekić, Akropolis Reed Quintet, soprano Danielle Buonaiuto, and Symphony Number One. She has been featured in articles in Vox Humana, I Care If You Listen, and Van Magazine. ​

Her music has received honors and recognition--Timelapse Variations garnered positive reviews from Lydia Woolever in Baltimore Magazine ("dissonant melodies that build into a unified spiral"), Tim Smith in The Baltimore Sun (a "tense, darkly colorful churn"), and Mark Medwin in Fanfare Magazine ("...polyrhythm bolstering gorgeous pantonal harmonies and shards of chromatic counterpoint," while  "...items burst forth, in a way that might make Mahler smile..."). In 2018, Draper remixed excerpts from Timelapse Variations for the background music of a short NASA film featuring the research of glaciologist Joe MacGregor. This video can be viewed in a variety of places, including Smithsonian Magazine. Her song cycle "O sea-starved, hungry sea," which was released on Danielle Buonaiuto's album "Marfa Songs" in August 2020, was praised by Phyllis Bryn-Julson, who notes that the music allows you to really "'see' the waves and desolate shores," with a final movement that is "simply gorgeous."

Draper has held residencies and fellowships at the Ucross Foundation, the Tanglewood Music Center, the I-Park Foundation, Yaddo, and St. David's Episcopal Church in Baltimore, MD. Recent musical projects have been financially supported by Syracuse University, the San Francisco Chapter of the American Guild of Organists Special Projects Grants, the Indianapolis American Guild of Organists Mozingo Endowment, the New York Council on the Arts (NYSCA), and CNYArts, among others. She is a graduate of Carleton College, University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music, and the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, where she studied for several years with composer Oscar Bettison and earned her doctorate. She is an assistant professor in the music theory and composition department at the Setnor School of Music at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York.

CONTACT:  For all inquiries, including the purchase of scores, please email [email protected]