Alumni Voices: And She’s Off: Natalie Wilson ’18 Is Out of the Starting Gate with “Saratoga”

Although she was active in Chorale at Westminster, Wilson had limited experience performing until her classmate Hannah Buckley ’18 asked her to sing as part of a Chapel talk. “I realized I needed accompaniment and asked Simon Aber ’18 to play guitar,” she recalls. “I was super nervous. I never performed at open mic nights on campus. The mic stand kept moving and making noise. I was gripping it so hard that I was shaking.”

Wilson and Aber’s music relationship would continue through their college years. Aber attended Northeastern University while Wilson was an undergraduate at Skidmore College, where she majored in English with a concentration in songwriting and minored in arts administration. In 2021, she was awarded a summer experience grant that served to kick-start a 30-date tour for their band, Deck Party, that summer. Wilson managed the logistics of the tour, and she and Aber performed at nightclubs, breweries, wineries and for students participating in the Horizons program at Westminster. 

In summer of 2022, a postgraduate grant from Skidmore allowed her the opportunity to produce “Track Season,” which was recorded, mixed and mastered at Skidmore’s Arthur Zankel Music Center. The title carries a dual meaning, referring to both the eight-week schedule of the Saratoga racetrack and the period during which the album was recorded. The first track, “Saratoga,” features a trumpet sample captured from the Saratoga Race Course. The EP recording features her original compositions with musicians from her early performing years and collegiate and professional performers. 

“I had carte blanche at the recording studio,” Wilson says. She was even able to enlist her brother Scott Wilson ’19, also a musician, and Aber’s father, a Westminster mathematics teacher and string ensemble director, Dan Aber P’16, ’18, ’20 as collaborators.

Dan’s contribution was a family affair. “Natalie and my son Simon have been friends since middle school,” he says. “She knew I played saxophone and asked me to play for her song ‘Love Dies Harder.’ Simon recorded my part remotely and sent it to Natalie. I’ve always liked her songs and her unique and natural vocal style.”

Wilson also had a hand in designing the cover art for the record. “It is a collage of three different artists’ work,” she explains. “I had my heart set on the calico cat on the piano, and the greenery- to-skyline imagery represents the distance between Saratoga to New York City.”

Currently, she is learning the business side of the music industry and preparing for her next album recording. After earning her B.A. from Skidmore in 2022, Wilson was accepted to the master of music production program at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass., but she chose to enroll in the master of arts in music business at the New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. “I was at a crossroads. I chose NYU. I figured I could learn production on my own. Knowing the business was the smart choice,” she says.

“Anyone can sing. Writing is my true skill. I’ve been writing since I was 10 years old. I knew I wanted to be in the music industry — NYU was a natural segue to the business.”

In addition to her graduate work, Wilson has interned for three semesters at Eusonic Records. “It’s been a cool learning curve,” she says. “It’s the best of both worlds, both production and business. There are so many moving parts. It’s a lot of juggling.” 

Now living in Gramercy Park, New York City, Wilson has stayed in touch with many of her Westminster classmates and looks forward to connecting with alumni who are engaged in music composition. She attended the last New York City reception at the New York Yacht Club and a summer young alumni event with her brother. 

Westminster has a special place in her heart. She chose to enroll in the school to honor her late mother Catherine Wilson, a long-term substitute French teacher at Westminster who died when Wilson was 13. As a student, she played varsity soccer and tennis, was a member of Black and Gold and participated in Chorale. 

Most recently, Wilson performed at the Bowery Electric in New York’s Lower East Side. She is also cutting custom vinyl records featuring songs from “Track Season,” but her focus now is on demos for her next record. “I want my next project to be as high-caliber as my last,” she says. “Track Season” is streaming on Spotify and all major music services.