Nat Seelen
Musician, educator, nonprofit leader
Nat Seelen
Clarinetist Nat Seelen is the founder and artistic director of the Boston Festival of New Jewish Music and clarinetist with Ezekiel's Wheels Klezmer Band.
Nat began his musical training in the preparatory department of New England Conservatory, where he studied jazz, music theory, and early music. He continued at Brown University, where he led the university orchestra and the klezmer band while maintaining a busy schedule of chamber music, jazz combos, funk bands, and pit orchestras. Nat graduated from Brown with a Bachelor’s in Music Theory, History, and Composition and an honors thesis in ethnomusicology focused on klezmer music.
After Brown, Nat moved to Cambridge, MA, where he started the internationally-recognized Ezekiel’s Wheels Klezmer Band and developed an active freelance career on clarinet, saxophone, and percussion.
A composer and writer as well as a performer, Nat won first prize in the 2020 Kleztival Bubbe Awards for Best Original Klezmer Tune, first prize in the 2015 Klezmer Company Orchestra Composition Competition and a 2016 Iguana Music Fund grant to write a pedagogical text on klezmer music. Nat reviews concerts for AllAboutJazz and has performed on clarinet, saxophones, and percussion with Hankus Netsky, OktoEcho, The Late Risers, Phoenix Orchestra, The Macrotones, The Longwood Symphony, The Mercury Symphony, and many others.
In past lives, he has been a zookeeper, a comic book librarian, a management consultant, and an AP music theory teacher.
Watch
Idol Suite
Live at the International Jewish Music Festival
Suite 1973
Live at the Burren Back Room
La Rosa Enflorece
Live at Goli's Gallery
Fisher Lid
Live at OBERON
Listen
Concerts
Visit https://ewklezmer.com for up to date concert schedule with Ezekiel's Wheels Klezmer Band.
New Klezmer Studios
Building on more than a decade of study and work with Ezekiel’s Wheels Klezmer Band and at festivals, reading groups, jam sessions, and in the practice room, I've created the classes that I always wished I could take as I was learning about klezmer music.
Each is roughly equivalent to an undergraduate course and is designed for advanced students or for serious amateur or professional musicians looking for a deeper grounding in klezmer.
All classes will take place over Zoom and are open to interested learners from anywhere in the world. I’ll be limiting the class size so we can maintain a proper workshop atmosphere, so sign up early to confirm your spot.
Check out the courses page for more information about this season's learning options.
Buy sheet music
56 New Klezmer Tunes for Dancing, Oy Khanike, and more
Check out the the folio of new klezmer dance tunes in concert, Bb, bass clef, or Eb! PDFs perfect for your ForScore or physical copies thoughtfully laid out and printed for easy reading. And don't forget to pick up a copy of Oy Khanike for clarinet sextet while you're on the sheet music page.
Or just buy the new book now!
***Please allow 10 days for shipping physical copies and 24 hours for emailed delivery of PDFs. PDFs will be delivered to the email address entered in your payment. If you have any questions or don't receive your sheet music promptly, please email Nat at nathaniel.seelen@gmail.com.
Contact
Contact for booking, freelance engagements, recording, teaching, or speaking.
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