Natalie Spehar

“Yet another wonderful example of the tremendous versatility of the cello in the right hands, which Natalie Spehar’s clearly are.” – Susan Scheid, Prufrock’s Dilemma

Natalie Spehar has made her mark in classical, rock, and folk music, performing most recently with artists including Disturbed, Cage the Elephant, 2 Cellos, Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith, Johnny Mathis, Amanda Palmer, Jherek Bischoff, Sarah Brightman, Michael Bublé and the Trans Siberian Orchestra. Natalie is a graduate of Eastman School of Music (BM’ – Cello Performance & Arts Leadership) and the University of Maryland (MM’ Music Performance), and is a current member of DC’s Great Noise Ensemble and the NYC-based piano quartet, Paperwing. An avid supporter of new music, Natalie has presented 45 world premiere performances, including works by Zoe Keating, Sarah Lipstate, Cornelius Duffallo, Hannah Lash, and famed Syrian recording artist Malek Jandali. As a soloist, she has traveled to perform & lecture on her work in string performance with electronics at universities across the United States.

Natalie is also an active composer and studio recording artist, working most recently with The Young Romans, Chris Brown, Starbucks artist Jesse Thomas, singer/songwriter Brad Carter (Red Parade Music), producer D.A. Doman (RCA Records) and jazz pianist Joel Pierson. Her playing appears in the soundtrack for the 2014 motion picture Decoding Annie Parker, as well as the television documentary Through the Eye of the Needle and the award-winning animated short film Test Anxiety, for which Natalie composed and recorded the original soundtrack.

With a strong interest in arts leadership, Natalie has worked closely with Young Audiences, Inc. and Music For Life, and is currently a performing member of the national MacDowell Music Club, promoting music education and outreach. In 2014, she founded the Annapolis Young Artists Program as well as the Urban Initiatives String Program in the greater D.C. metro area, encouraging young artists to be effective, creative & community-minded collaborators.