Nathan Felix (born 1981) is a Mexican-American composer known for his immersive operas and experimental films. Felix has premiered 16 operas, 4 symphonies and various chamber works in Spain, Japan, Australia, Bulgaria, Portugal, China, Sweden, Denmark, Mongolia and the United States and has been featured on the BBC, MTV, NPR, TPR & PBS. Felix, a non-award winning composer, often focuses on telling Latinx themed and minority stories that highlight border issues, underserved communities and his hispanic heritage. He is the current recipient of Opera America’s prestigious IDEA Grant for his work, Faces in the Flames with librettist Anita Gonzalez. Felix also serves as the founding director for the Opera Austin Festival.

In 2013, Felix transitioned from leading indie-rock band, The Noise Revival Orchestra, to composing for orchestra by releasing his 1st symphony, The Curse the Cross & the Lion, to critical acclaim including being featured by the BBC and NPR. A subsequent documentary by director David Schulte titled, The Curse & The Symphony, “captured a contradictorial story of a young, ambitious, and perhaps rebellious musician searching for identity and truth within classical structures of culture and society.” The documentary screened at over 40 film festivals and received numerous accolades including Best Documentary Short.

In 2015, Felix recorded and released his 2nd symphony, Neon Heaven, a choral symphony sung in Classical Latin. Neon Heaven premiered in Denmark at SPOT Festival with additional performances in Portugal, Mongolia and the USA.

In 2016, Felix was featured on PBS and nominated for a Lonestar Emmy for work on his 6-Piano project in which he restored six pianos for a concert featuring two new compositions. After the concert, Felix donated the pianos to schools in lower income neighborhoods in Austin. The 6 Piano Project has since been commissioned in San Antonio (2016), Barcelona (2017), Melbourne (2017) and Houston (2019).

In 2018, Felix was recognized for his “Opera on a Bus” and the “2018 Tobin Prize for Artistic Excellence” for which he premiered his “Headphone Opera” titled, The War Bride at Luminaria Arts Festival. 

In 2019, Felix completed his critically acclaimed commission for immersive opera. Alien Wanderers : Alien World : Alien Home premiered at the Blanton Museum. Alien addressed discrimination and issues surrounding the United States’ southern border, marginalized groups and re-appropriation of borders.

In 2020, Felix released Öcalan, a chamber opera inspired by Kurdish Political Activist, Abdullah Öcalan.

In 2021, Felix premiered his chamber opera, Ribas-Dominicci, on Texas Public Radio. Ribas-Dominicci, is inspired by the life of Major Fernando Luis Ribas-Dominicci, a pilot in the U.S. Air Force who was killed during Operation El Dorado Canyon in 1986. In November 2021 Felix released a studio recording of Texas Skies, written for 2-pianos featuring pianist, Timo Andres.

In 2022, Felix premiered his 3rd symphony, Santa-Almada, in Austin TX. Santa-Almada is based on a true story sparked by a quest for answers about the composer’s absent father and Mexican ancestry, revealing the existence of a half brother and sister, also having been abandoned by their mutual father. Later that year Felix premiered a newly commissioned opera La Malinche – Traitor | Savior in Albuquerque.

In 2023, Felix wrote, composed and directed 7 new immersive operas in 6 different cities — Glory Gone (Albuquerque), The Artificial Heart (Louisville), The Paños Prophecy (Albuquerque), The Great Flood (Iowa City), The Cadence of Life (Des Moines), All is Apathetic in Love & War (Charlottesville) & The Great Hurricane (Columbia). He also participated in The 96-Hour Opera Festival hosted by the Atlanta Opera in which along with librettist Anita Gonzalez won an award for Faces in the Flames

In 2024, Felix premiered, El Conquistador, a 75 minute opera about the conquests of Hernán Cortés at the Little Carver Theatre in San Antonio. Felix then premiered a new commission for 16-Pianos in conjunction with the Drake University Piano program.

In addition, Felix served as an official music ambassador for the US in China and composed music for a series of PSA’s for an international campaign by LIVESTRONG to raise cancer awareness in China and Mexico. In late 2014, Felix reformed his band, The Noise Revival Orchestra, for a tour in Asia highlighted by festival dates in Japan and Taiwan where TNRO performed for crowds of 35,000 and 50,000!