Biography
24 year old American trumpeter Natalie Dungey came to international attention through
her stunning performance of the Arutunian Trumpet Concerto at the National Trumpet
Competition that went through the trumpet world on Youtube when she was 10. Since
then she has been a featured soloist with Christopher O’Reilly on NPR’s From The Top
(show #202), has premiered works for trumpet and orchestra, and been the featured
soloist with orchestras and bands around the country and as far as Japan.
Written for her by Hollywood film composer and Grammy winner Mateo Messina
(Soundtrack for "Juno"), Natalie performed the world premier of “Calling The Calvary”
with the Northwest Symphony Orchestra in Benaroya Hall, Seattle's premier concert hall
with an audience of 2000. She performed the exciting work again with the Bellevue
Philharmonic Orchestra in an outdoor concert for Independence Day with an audience
of 30,000 and again with the Northwest Symphony Orchestra on a subscription concert.
In January of 2013 John Zoltek, music director of the Glacier Symphony and prolific
composer, wrote a two movement concerto for trumpet for Ms. Dungey that Natalie
successfully premiered with the Glacier Symphony to two sold out performances. Also
in 2013, Natalie was the featured soloist with the Louisville Orchestra for the opening
concert of the Kentucky Music Educator’s Association Conference.
Past solo appearances include the Arutunian Trumpet Concerto with the Indiana Wind
Symphony, the Hummel Trumpet Concerto with the Auburn Symphony (WA), Grand
Russian Fantasia by Jules Levy with the Boston Brass at the Midwest Band and
Orchestra Clinic in Chicago and at the Texas Bandmaster's Association in San Antonio.
In May of 2012, Natalie spent 6 weeks in Japan with the Aimachi Drum & Bugle Corps
as a featured soloist in their 50th Anniversary production. Natalie has also been the
featured guest artist at the Great American Brass Band Festival in Danville Kentucky,
the Britt Festival in Jacksonville, Oregon, and the Festival Amadeus in Whitefish
Montana. Additional performances have included a second winning year at the National Trumpet
Competition playing the Tomasi Concerto, soloing with the University of Washington
combined University and Campus bands twice, the “Prayer of Saint Gregory” with the
Northwest Symphony, “The Trumpeter’s Lullaby” with the Auburn Symphony, and Del
Staiger’s “Carnival of Venice” with the Sammamish Symphony.
Recent performances include in January 2020 Natalie Performed Semaine Sainte a
Cuzco with the UCLA Philharmonia after winning the “All Stars” competition right before
covid. In April 2022 she performed the Coachella music festival with 88Rising for the
“Heads in the Cloud” set.
Natalie has grown up in a musical family. Her mother is a professional violinist and her
father a professional trumpeter and band director. As a toddler, she would sit on her
father's lap while he taught trumpet lessons and attended rehearsals for the church
orchestra, grabbing the mouthpiece and playing any chance she got. She could be
found carrying (dragging) an old trumpet her dad gave her around the house and
blasting away. She begged him to teach her, but he refused, believing she was too
young. Undeterred, Natalie assigned herself the first few pages of a method book.
After practicing them diligently, she put stars on the ones she could do well and again
asked for her dad to teach her. Finally, at age 7, she began formal lessons with her
dad, insisting that he teach her "just like his students."
Just before her 9th birthday, from her audition recording of the 1st movement of the
"Concerto for Trumpet" by Hummel, she was advanced to the National Trumpet
Competition Junior Division semi-final round in Fairfax, Virginia. There she was featured
in a master class filmed for Fox 5 TV News in Washington D.C., coached by Professor
Vincent DiMartino (world renown trumpet clinician and performer), Adam Rapa (solo
artist and lead trumpet for the Broadway show "Blast"), and Vladislav Lavrik (Principal
Trumpet of the Russian National Orchestra).
Other than her dad, Natalie studies with Adam Rapa and is often coached by her mom.
She also studied under Jens Lindemann at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Natalie has been teaching private lessons for over 9 years to a variety of levels
from beginner to advanced. Some of which have gone on to play first trumpet in All
State Bands as well as into the semi-final rounds of the National Trumpet Competition.
Natalie graduated from UCLA in June 2021 with a BM in Trumpet Performance and a
BA in Psychology. She resides in Los Angeles teaching private lessons, as well as
pursuing other professional ventures.
her stunning performance of the Arutunian Trumpet Concerto at the National Trumpet
Competition that went through the trumpet world on Youtube when she was 10. Since
then she has been a featured soloist with Christopher O’Reilly on NPR’s From The Top
(show #202), has premiered works for trumpet and orchestra, and been the featured
soloist with orchestras and bands around the country and as far as Japan.
Written for her by Hollywood film composer and Grammy winner Mateo Messina
(Soundtrack for "Juno"), Natalie performed the world premier of “Calling The Calvary”
with the Northwest Symphony Orchestra in Benaroya Hall, Seattle's premier concert hall
with an audience of 2000. She performed the exciting work again with the Bellevue
Philharmonic Orchestra in an outdoor concert for Independence Day with an audience
of 30,000 and again with the Northwest Symphony Orchestra on a subscription concert.
In January of 2013 John Zoltek, music director of the Glacier Symphony and prolific
composer, wrote a two movement concerto for trumpet for Ms. Dungey that Natalie
successfully premiered with the Glacier Symphony to two sold out performances. Also
in 2013, Natalie was the featured soloist with the Louisville Orchestra for the opening
concert of the Kentucky Music Educator’s Association Conference.
Past solo appearances include the Arutunian Trumpet Concerto with the Indiana Wind
Symphony, the Hummel Trumpet Concerto with the Auburn Symphony (WA), Grand
Russian Fantasia by Jules Levy with the Boston Brass at the Midwest Band and
Orchestra Clinic in Chicago and at the Texas Bandmaster's Association in San Antonio.
In May of 2012, Natalie spent 6 weeks in Japan with the Aimachi Drum & Bugle Corps
as a featured soloist in their 50th Anniversary production. Natalie has also been the
featured guest artist at the Great American Brass Band Festival in Danville Kentucky,
the Britt Festival in Jacksonville, Oregon, and the Festival Amadeus in Whitefish
Montana. Additional performances have included a second winning year at the National Trumpet
Competition playing the Tomasi Concerto, soloing with the University of Washington
combined University and Campus bands twice, the “Prayer of Saint Gregory” with the
Northwest Symphony, “The Trumpeter’s Lullaby” with the Auburn Symphony, and Del
Staiger’s “Carnival of Venice” with the Sammamish Symphony.
Recent performances include in January 2020 Natalie Performed Semaine Sainte a
Cuzco with the UCLA Philharmonia after winning the “All Stars” competition right before
covid. In April 2022 she performed the Coachella music festival with 88Rising for the
“Heads in the Cloud” set.
Natalie has grown up in a musical family. Her mother is a professional violinist and her
father a professional trumpeter and band director. As a toddler, she would sit on her
father's lap while he taught trumpet lessons and attended rehearsals for the church
orchestra, grabbing the mouthpiece and playing any chance she got. She could be
found carrying (dragging) an old trumpet her dad gave her around the house and
blasting away. She begged him to teach her, but he refused, believing she was too
young. Undeterred, Natalie assigned herself the first few pages of a method book.
After practicing them diligently, she put stars on the ones she could do well and again
asked for her dad to teach her. Finally, at age 7, she began formal lessons with her
dad, insisting that he teach her "just like his students."
Just before her 9th birthday, from her audition recording of the 1st movement of the
"Concerto for Trumpet" by Hummel, she was advanced to the National Trumpet
Competition Junior Division semi-final round in Fairfax, Virginia. There she was featured
in a master class filmed for Fox 5 TV News in Washington D.C., coached by Professor
Vincent DiMartino (world renown trumpet clinician and performer), Adam Rapa (solo
artist and lead trumpet for the Broadway show "Blast"), and Vladislav Lavrik (Principal
Trumpet of the Russian National Orchestra).
Other than her dad, Natalie studies with Adam Rapa and is often coached by her mom.
She also studied under Jens Lindemann at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Natalie has been teaching private lessons for over 9 years to a variety of levels
from beginner to advanced. Some of which have gone on to play first trumpet in All
State Bands as well as into the semi-final rounds of the National Trumpet Competition.
Natalie graduated from UCLA in June 2021 with a BM in Trumpet Performance and a
BA in Psychology. She resides in Los Angeles teaching private lessons, as well as
pursuing other professional ventures.
