Natalie Nowytski

Natalie Nowytski is an award-winning composer, performer, and educator specializing in Eastern European vocal styling. A first-generation Ukrainian-American and Minnesota native, she trained classically with her grandmother, the legendary vocal coach Oksana Bryn. Her Ukrainian heritage and love for traditional folk music brought Natalie to the internationally acclaimed Ethnic Dance Theatre in 1996 where she began specializing in the vocal styling of traditional Central and Eastern European music. Her work with EDT ultimately lead her to direct Mila Vocal Ensemble until 2005. She has traveled to Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Serbia and Ukraine to study culture and folk music from professional musicians and villagers alike, including Les Mystere des Voix Bulgares soloists Svetla Karadjova Ivanova and Lilyana Galevska. Natalie sings in more than 40 languages and in nearly 20 distinct vocal styles. In addition to her diverse roster of private voice students, Natalie frequently conducts multi-level vocal workshops—including for New England-based Village Harmony—and has served as consultant for various choral groups, including locals The Rose Ensemble and Mila Vocal Ensemble and the San Francisco-based KITKA. Through her performance and research, she has become respected as a master artist of Eastern European vocal styling. Her compositions have been performed at The Guthrie Theater, The Southern Theater, the University of Minnesota's Rarig Theater, and the Fine Line Music Cafe. Natalie is a winner of the 2011-2012 McKnight Artist Fellowships for Performing Musicians administered by MacPhail Center for Music. She is also part of a team that won the 2011 SAGE Award for Dance for Outstanding Design (music and score for the Flying Foot Forum's production of "Heaven").
Natalie's performance credits include guest appearances with Peter Ostroushko, Ruth MacKenzie, Joe Chvala and the Flying Foot Forum, Ethnic Dance Theatre, Szászka, and others. She has performed on Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" and at the prestigious Koprivshtitsa folk festival in Bulgaria, both with Mila Vocal Ensemble. Although she calls the voice her main instrument, Natalie plays nearly a dozen folk and classical instruments: She is the vocalist/percussionist/flautist for local folk dance band Orkestar Bez Ime (OBI), vocalist for the traditional Bulgarian dance band Traki, guest vocalist/bassist for the Ukrainian Village Band (Seljuky), and bassist/vocalist for Bavarian string band Die Alte Streich. In a departure from her folk music life, Natalie also bridges the indie rock/pop/electronica scene, writing, performing and recording with Reid Kruger as AM Supper Club and creating ethnic-referenced rock with Rose Ensemble instrumentalist David Burk.