“At 23, and with a small frame and Harry Potter-ish glasses, Nathan Chan at first looks like a high-school kid who sneaked into the symphony,” writes Charles R. Cross in Wednesday’s (6/7) Seattle Times. “But once Chan starts to play … you can hear why he’s one of conductor Ludovic Morlot’s most exciting recent hires. Chan got the job as the Seattle Symphony’s third-chair cello in late February…. Chan has his own YouTube channel where he covers pop artists such as Adele and The Beatles…. Several of his videos have over a million views (he also has more standard classical fare up as well)…. He attended a joint program between Columbia [University] and Juilliard, so he also has a degree in economics…. he realized that his skill with the cello would be based on ‘how smart’ he practiced as opposed to how many hours he put in…. He suggests that young players work more on finding tools to solve problems … [rather] than just striving for perfection.” Says Chan, “I want to be the person who makes a difference between an incredible performance, and an average one. You can feel that when it happens. And when it does, it’s just magic.”
Posted June 9, 2017
