Concerts in the Community

A Cincinnati-based soloist, chamber musician, and teacher, Nathaniel Sendi began studying the viola at the age of nine and has since developed a lifelong passion for his instrument and for classical music as a whole. Nathaniel was born in San Francisco, California and grew up in North Barrington, Illinois, and has studied with some of the most renowned violists of our time, including Charles Pikler, Kenichiro Matsuda, and Dr. Catharine Lees.

Nathaniel is a champion of new music and living composers, frequently performing works written by some of the most celebrated composers of the modern era, including Unsuk Chin, Aya Yoshida, Gregory Spears, Tania Leon, James MacMillan, and Jörg Widmann. As part of a 2022 solo recital, Nathaniel gave the first performance of James MacMillan’s Viola Concerto (2013) in the United States. 

“Performing new music is such a thrill. The feeling of lending your own voice to a work that’s still so fresh, the feeling of presenting a work to an audience totally unfamiliar with it and being with them as they discover what the piece is. . . It’s led to some of the best experiences of my life.”

As a lover of chamber music, Nathaniel is proud to have studied with some of today’s leading chamber musicians, such as the members of the Ariel Quartet and Ayane Kozasa of the Aizuri Quartet. In 2018, Nathaniel performed in the world premiere of Kyle Werner’s String Quartet No. 2 “In Memory.”

As a teacher with nearly a decade of experience, Nathaniel aims to inspire in his students the same love of the viola that he feels. 

“There is no other instrument like the viola. Its rich yet melancholy tone contains such depths, and despite being such an ancient instrument we’ve only just scratched the surface of what beauty it's capable of.”

When he’s not performing or locked away in the practice room for hours on end, Nathaniel loves baking desserts, reading classic literature, and, as fellow CitC Co-Founder Nicholas Wilbur can attest, watching very bizarre and surreal horror films.

In 2021, Nathaniel received his Bachelor’s Degree in Viola Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where he studied with Dr. Catharine Lees, and is currently pursuing his Master’s Degree in Viola Performance from the same institution. Nathaniel performs on a viola made by Tetsuo Matsuda in 2016.