Emmy-winning composer Nathan Barr has received critical acclaim for his unmatched versatility, incorporating eclectic instruments from musical cultures across the world. His recent projects include the hit Amblin Entertainment/Universal Pictures family-horror film The House with a Clock in its Walls, Amazon Studios’/Legendary Television’s fantasy period drama Carnival Row, starring Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne, Hulu's The Great starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, and the Netflix series Hollywood, created by Ryan Murphy, for which Nathan received an Emmy-award for Best Main Title Theme. Coming soon is the Netflix original action film Kate, starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Woody Harrelson, season 2 of The Great and Carnival Row. His latest project, now playing, is a new collaboration with Ryan Murphy for Netflix, Halston.
Nathan’s hallmark adaptability has led him to scoring a diverse roster of some of television’s biggest shows. He has scored all six seasons of FX’s The Americans, starring Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys, which earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music. Nathan’s music can also be heard in all seven seasons of HBO’s Emmy-winning and fan-favorite series, True Blood and Netflix’s Hemlock Grove, for which Nathan earned his second Emmy nomination for the main title theme. In 2018, Nathan has returned to score the third season of Amazon’s top show and acclaimed con-man drama Sneaky Pete, starring Giovanni Ribisi, as well as season 2 of AMC’s multi-generational western epic The Son, starring Pierce Brosnan.
With Emmy nominations for both The Americans and Hemlock Grove, Nathan has the distinction of being the first composer to have two nominations in the Main Title category in the same year.
Alongside his extensive career in television, Nathan has a long record of scoring successful films as he approaches his 40th feature. A frequent collaborator with gore-horror master Eli Roth, Nathan scored his early cult-classics Cabin Fever and Hostel – some of Nathan’s other feature scores include Jason Blum’s box office hit thriller The Boy Next Door, starring Jennifer Lopez. In 2017, Nathan also scored Columbia Pictures’ sci-fi drama Flatliners, starring Kiefer Sutherland, Ellen Page and Nina Dobrev.
In addition to writing his scores, Nathan performs many of the instruments heard in his compositions, and is skilled in many styles ranging from orchestral to rock. He is known for his collection and inclusion of rare and unusual instruments from around the world, such as a human bone trumpet from Tibet, dismantled pianos, a rare Glass Armonica, and gourd cellos. The gem of his collection is a 3 manual, 19 rank Wurlitzer Theater Organ with 1,366 pipes. The organ lived on the scoring stage at 20th Century Fox from 1928-1998, and can be heard in dozens of scores by legendary composers such as Bernard Herrmann, Alex North, Jerry Goldsmith, and John Williams. It is now the centerpiece of Nathan’s newly-constructed Bandrika Studios, an 8,000 sq ft scoring stage and recording facility conceived by Nathan as a permanent home for this history-rich instrument. Featured in Variety and The Wall Street Journal, Bandrika has already established itself as a world-class recording space and a part of Barr’s increasingly unique palette.
Nathan Barr currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
