Nathan Shirley

Classical composer and pianist Nathan Shirley was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. As a young child he would climb his way to the piano to improvise, and it was not long before he composed for the instrument. Eventually, He came to study piano performance under Russian instruction. As a composer he was more or less self taught until his 17th year when he began training under the composer Olga Harris, Aram Khachaturian's last student. He studied with her for several years.Shirley has been a winner in various international composition competitions. In recent years his reputation as a classical composer has rapidly expanded with a number of radio interviews, television broadcasts, university lectures, and many performances from solo piano recitals to orchestral concerts given around the globe.In addition to the traditional concert setting, he has composed music for film and other media. He has written music for a wide variety of instruments; everything from large scale symphonic music to small scale solo piano music.Nathan Shirley currently lives in the Southeastern United States with his wife and children.