As well as being a performer, Natalie is also an advocate for arts education. She is a teaching artist for the 92Y's Musical Introduction Series where she brings music education to inner-city schools in both the Bronx and Harlem. Ms. Pilla teaches bassoon at the Rudolf Steiner School and has taught at both Mannes and Juilliard pre-colleges.    

Natalie received her Master of Music and Professional Studies Diploma from Mannes College of Music in NYC where she studied bassoon with Patricia Rogers.  She received a Bachelor of Science in Music Therapy from Duquesne University Mary Pappert School of Music. Ms. Pilla's principal teachers include Marc Goldberg, David Sogg and Shirley Curtiss.

Natalie Pilla is quickly establishing herself as an active solo, chamber and orchestral musician both in and around New York City.  As a freelance bassoonist, Natalie has performed with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, West Chester Philharmonic, Albany Symphony, Long Island Philharmonic, and the Harrisburg Symphony. In 2011 Ms. Pilla joined the Metropolitan Opera on tour in Japan performing La Boheme, Don Carlo, and Lucia di Lammermoor in both Nagoya and Toyko. Under the direction of Fabio Luisi, she also performed with the MET Orchestra at Suntory Hall in Toyko. While in NYC, Natalie performs regularly at Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall and has worked with such conductors as Gianandrea Noseda and Alan Gilbert. 

Natalie is Co-founder of the Aeolian Collective, a chamber music ensemble that performs works written primarily for wind and brass instruments.  She has performed chamber music throughout the country as well as in South America, Europe and Japan. Ms. Pilla collaborates with various emerging new music ensembles in New York City and in 2007 she performed the Mozart Bassoon Concerto with The Chelsea Symphony.  

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