He created the award winning Cobra Ensemble Cincinnati in 1998— concurrent to his bachelor studies in orchestral conducting— specializing in renderings of MacArthur “genius” Grant composer John Zorn’s notorious game-piece Cobra. In 1999 he was invited to direct Cobra in Santa Cruz, California, curated by the band Estradasphere. Upon moving to New York City in 2000, Zorn invited Nathan to play in Cobra under his direction.

In Holland in 2002, Nathan created the ensemble Collision Palace, which enjoyed collaborations with composers such as Pauline Oliveros, premiered a graphic score by Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, performed with Fred Frith in the Holland Festival, and won the praise of Frederic Rzewski for “best capturing the spirit” of his iconic protest score Coming Together. With this ensemble, Nathan also began translating the Cobra system into dance. During this time he was invited to workshop and direct his style of Cobra at festivals in Darmstadt, Barcelona, Ostrava, and Lisbon.

Upon moving to Berlin in 2005, Nathan initiated the Berlin Cobra series, with each edition featuring a different curator: A single performer who selects the other 11 performers of their temporary utopian band, which is then initiated in the form of a 3-day workshop by Nathan. Berlin Cobra is a limbic social laboratory, which is not bound to any particular scene or style, having been presented at diverse venues such as Kule, Ausland, HAU Theater, Ballhaus Naunyn, Sophiensaele, Mica Moca, and Werkstatt der Kulturen.

In 2010, Nathan led the first weeklong Organizing Desire workshop for dancers and musicians— a full translation of Cobra into dance— at the world’s largest international dance festival, ImPulsTanz in Vienna.

The first performance of Cobra on the African continent was directed by Nathan in Dakar, Senegal at the Institut Francais in June of 2013.

Nathan has also invented his own group improvisation system, Circle Opera.