Nat Dickey

Principal Trombone

Dr. Nat Dickey serves on the Concordia College faculty as associate professor of music, teaching low brass and conducting the Concordia Symphonic Band and the Cobber Athletic Band. During the summer, he serves as jazz trombone instructor at the International Music Camp. He is an SE Shires Trombone Artist.

Dickey is currently principal trombonist of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony, trombonist of the Post-Traumatic Funk Syndrome, and trombonist and leader of The Skipjacks jazz quartet. He has performed with the IRIS Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Vermont Symphony, and Boston Ballet. An active chamber musician, Dickey was a founding member of the Orion Trombone Quartet (winner of the Coleman Competition) and the Brass Mosaic, with which he performed at Carnegie Hall. Dickey performs frequent solo recitals and has performed as a soloist with the U.S. Army Orchestra, the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony, and numerous collegiate and public school ensembles. He appears on recordings with the IRIS Orchestra, the Post-Traumatic Funk Syndrome, the Paramount Brass, and Boston Symphony Orchestra principal trombonist Ron Barron. Dickey's first solo CD, Collaborations, was released in 2014 and includes original compositions by Dickey himself, as well as by colleagues and former students. His second solo CD, Reflections, was funded by a McKnight Fellowship and released in May, 2018.

As a conductor, Dickey has commissioned and premiered works from numerous renowned composers, including Benjamin Taylor, David Avshalomov, Andrew Boysen, Jr., Stephen Paulus, Elliott Schwartz, Mark Camphouse, Carol Barnett, Mary Ellen Childs, and Allen Feinstein. With the Symphonic Band, he directs the annual Composers Concert series, featuring contemporary music, including the work of student composers. Dickey previously served as assistant director of bands at Harvard University. He is a frequent band clinician and adjudicator.

Dickey holds degrees from Oberlin College and Conservatory (B.A. mathematics, B.M. music performance), Rice University (M.M. music performance), and the University of Minnesota (D.M.A. music). His teachers include Tom Everett, Per Brevig, Raymond Premru, David Waters, Ron Barron, and Tom Ashworth.