Nathan Cornelius pursues a multifaceted career in performance, composition, and teaching.

Trained as a classical guitarist, he has received competition first prizes for his solo, concerto, and chamber performances on guitar. He has studied with Julian Gray, Ricardo Iznaola, Jonathan Leathwood, David Crittenden, and Jeffrey Van, and has performed in masterclasses with guitar luminaries including Eduardo Fernández, Benjamin Verdery, Roland Dyens, and Zoran Dukic. His performances and research focus on guitar music of the 20^th and 21^st centuries, exploring how modern and postmodern composers articulate cultural conceptions of time and memory through intertextuality with works of the Western tradition. In doing so, he also seeks creative ways to engage with audiences outside of the traditional venues for classical music.

As a composer, Cornelius searches for the hidden beauty in sounds both fresh and familiar, opening listeners’ ears to new colors, textures, and ultimately, new ways of hearing.  In 2014, he co-founded Nebula Ensemble, a group dedicated to creating and performing innovative and interdisciplinary chamber music throughout Colorado. Much of his music is inspired by nature and wilderness, and he has been composer-in-residence at Shenandoah National Park and Isle Royale National Park. His collaboration with his sister, harpist Heather Cornelius, has received awards including multiple grants from the American Harp Society.

Cornelius has taught music theory, ear training, and guitar at Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland—Baltimore County, Washington College, and Towson University. He received an M.M. in music theory pedagogy and a D.M.A. in guitar performance from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University and an M.M. in composition and guitar performance from the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music.

Cornelius is deeply interested in the connections between music and the visual arts as they embody the values of a civilization, and he seeks to compose music that both reflects his Christian faith and expands the imagination of the culture.  He blogs about new music and his compositional philosophy at deformingprisms.wordpress.com and displays his nature photography at Luminous Shadow Landscapes on Etsy. He lives with his wife in western Massachusetts, where he can regularly be found hiking or running the trails of the Berkshires or Taconic Mountains.