About this Artist

Nate May (b. 1987) is a composer and keyboard improviser whose music draws on research and imagination, often treating contemporary issues of place, migration, environment, and identity with textural intricacy, rhythmic drive, and a taste for repurposed sounds. Raised in Huntington, West Virginia, much of his work stems from a “fascination, love, and respect for the people” of Appalachia (Soapbox), including his oratorio State—premiered by singer Kate Wakefield (Lung) and MUSE, Cincinnati's Women's Choir—and his monodrama, Dust in the Bottomland, sung by lyric bass Andrew Munn. Large-scale collaborations include the world-touring work Spiral by choreographer/dancer Wanjiru Kamuyu and Kalahari Waits, the debut album of indigenous experimental trio Khoi Khonnexion, produced during a year in South Africa. His chamber and electronic works have been commissioned, performed, and/or recorded by Adam Sliwinski (Sō Percussion), Quartetto Indaco, Patchwork Duo, Brianna Matzke and Hajnal Pivnick, and Thea Rossen. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, and is enrolling at Yale in the Fall of 2017. His work has received support from the Telluride Association, ArtsWave, People’s Liberty, and the Berea College Appalachian Sound Fellowship.