Nathan Riki Thomson is a double bass player, multi-instrumentalist, composer, researcher, and educator. Nathan has collaborated and performed with musicians from many parts of the world, with a special interest in Africa where he lived and worked for five-years with musicians and dancers in Tanzania and Zambia. During his time in Tanzania, Nathan established a series of community arts projects in collaboration with local musicians and was a student of renowned musician Dr. Hukwe Zawose.

Nathan was born to parents from Aotearoa / New Zealand and raised in Australia on Bundjalung land and educated on lands traditionally owned by the Jagera and Turrbal peoples*, where he completed undergraduate studies at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in Meanjin / Brisbane, followed by further studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. Nathan holds master’s and doctoral degrees in Global Music from Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts, Helsinki.  

As a performer, Nathan has toured internationally during the past 30 years with groups including the Antonio Forcione Quartet, Adriano Adewale Group, Ilkka Heinonen Trio, Subsonic Trio, Electronic Chamber Music, and Mari Kalkun. Nathan is featured on numerous albums as a collaborator and has released three albums under his own name, including Under Ubi’s Tree (NAIM records UK),Shaped by the Sea,and Resonance (Sibarecords / NAXOS). He was a Lecturer at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London for 10 years, where he worked as a core member of the teaching team for the master’s degree in leadership.

Intertwined with performing, teaching, and researching, Nathan has actively worked on intercultural community engagement projects in contexts such as schools, prisons, youth groups, centers for children with a disability, and with homeless youth in Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia, and North and South America. Finland is his new home, where he is currently professor and head of the Global Music Department at Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts, Helsinki.

*I acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional owners and custodians of the lands on which I was born. These lands have always been home to music-making, teaching, and learning. I acknowledge the indigenous people’s connection to land, sea and community, and pay respect to their elders past and present.