Praised by the New York Times for her “splendid playing,” Natalie Rose Kress is a violinist, concertmaster, entrepreneur, and director based in Washington, D.C.. Following three summers as a Tanglewood Fellow, she was awarded the Jules C. Reiner Violin Prize from the Tanglewood Music Center and performed with Yo-Yo Ma at the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors, honoring Seiji Ozawa.

As a winner of the 2021 Mercury Chamber Orchestra Fellowship and the 2022 English Concert in America Fellowship, Natalie is sought after all over the world as a Baroque violinist and concertmaster. As a modern violinist, she performed the world premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s “Music for String Quartet” (written in 1936) at the Linde Center at Tanglewood, with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in November 2021. She can be heard on the first commercial recording of Bernstein’s Music for String Quartet, recorded by Parma Recordings, released in September 2023.

She performs regularly as a founding member of the period string quartet Quartet Salonnières (NYC), Relic Baroque Orchestra, and Musicivic Baroque (PA), as a core member of Repast Baroque Ensemble (NYC), and as concertmaster of La Grande Bande (MN). She performs frequently with groups such as the Handel and Haydn Society (MA), the Washington Bach Consort (D.C.), the Washington National Cathedral Baroque Orchestra (D.C.), The English Concert (U.K.), Opera Lafayette (D.C.), the Mercury Chamber Orchestra (TX), Seraphic Fire (FL), TENET Vocal Artists (NY), Early Music NY, Shanghai Camerata (China), Les Arts Florissants (Paris), and the Staunton Music Festival (VA).

Natalie is currently a doctoral student at the University of Maryland with a focus on historical performance pedagogy where she directs and leads the UMD Baroque Project. She has held teaching residencies at Williams College (Williamstown, MA), Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI), and the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (NYC). As a member of Quartet Salonnières, she was awarded the 2022 U.S. Embassy Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Public Diplomacy Grant to tour Tanzania in January 2023 performing concerts at various venues, and presenting educational workshops at schools, orphanages, and universities throughout the country. The quartet was awarded the 2023 Chamber Music America “Ensemble Forward” Grant to record a CD this year.

Natalie received a BA in Music and Psychology, and an MM in Violin Performance from SUNY Stony Brook University. She attended The Juilliard School’s coveted Historical Performance Graduate Program in 2019 on a full scholarship. She studied with Soovin Kim, Philip Setzer, Jennifer Frautschi, Robert Mealy, Cynthia Roberts, Elizabeth Blumenstock, and Rachel Podger. As a Doctoral student at the University of Maryland, she studies with David Salness and Kenneth Slowik.

Originally from Philadelphia, Natalie currently resides in Greenbelt, MD with her husband Jonathan Davies, and Yorkie, Henry.