Nathaniel De la Cruz

Biography

Peruvian born double bass player Nathaniel De la Cruz started learning the piano at the age of 6 from his father and was introduced to the double bass at the age of 16. After a full year studying with Prof. Dante Bereche, he was admitted to the National Conservatory of Music of Peru. In 2012 he got a full scholarship to study his bachelor’s degree with renowned double bass pedagogue Marcos Machado at the University of Southern Mississippi. In 2017, he was offered a teaching assistantship and a special talent scholarship at Arizona State University to study with international double bass soloist Catalin Rotaru, where he got his master’s degree and completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 2022. 

Nathaniel maintains an active performing and teaching schedule, offering solo recitals and currently serving as the Principal Double Bass of the Arizona Philharmonic, and as the Double Bass Instructor of Chandler-Gilbert Community College. He taught master classes in different schools of music internationally and the US and appeared in concerts with renowned conductors and soloists like Gustavo Dudamel, Carl St.Clair, Midori, Juan Diego Florez, the Brooklyn Rider Quartet, among others. He is the developer of a global teaching project for the organization Music to Save Humanity in Los Angeles, California, and the creator of a sequential teaching material for the program “Music in the Schools” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil funded by Harmony Project Phoenix. 

Nathaniel took lessons and master classes with world-class double bassists such as Edicson Ruiz (Berlin Philharmonic), David Moore (LA Philharmonic), Thierry Barbe (Paris Conservatory), Jeff Bradetich (UNT), Sorin Orcinschi (Netherlands Philharmonic), among others. He is the winner of several awards and competitions including the Gladys O’Donnell String Fellowship Award, the First Prize of the National Young Artists Solo Competition of the Coeur d’Alene Symphony in Washington, the First Place in the 2020 Talent show of the Charleston International Music Competition, and the Grand Prize of the Art Festival Bass Strings International Double Bass Competition in Romania. In 2019, he participated in the legendary Giovanni Bottesini International Double Bass Competition in Italy and in 2021, he was a semi-finalist in the Latin Orchestra of Europe International Double Bass Competition. He was recently the winner of the 2021 Concerto Competition of the ASU School of Music and offered a concert as a soloist with the ASU Symphony.