Yves Nat was a French pianist, composer, and music educator, born in Béziers on December 29, 1890. He showed an early aptitude for piano and composition. At seven, he was allowed to improvise on the organ at Béziers Cathedral during Sunday Mass; at ten, he conducted his own orchestral fantasy. Following the advice of Gabriel Fauré and Camille Saint-Saëns, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Louis Diémer.
As a soloist, Nat was known especially for his performances of Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms. He made his first tour of the United States in 1911 and often performed with violinists Jacques Thibaud, George Enescu, and Eugène Ysaÿe. In 1937, he stopped giving concerts and devoted himself to teaching at the Paris Conservatoire. He returned to the stage in the 1950s and recorded all 32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas.
Nat’s compositions include the oratorio Hell (1942), a piano concerto, and chamber works. His final concert as a pianist took place at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris on February 4, 1954; it also marked the premiere of his piano concerto, performed by the French National Orchestra under Pierre Dervaux. Nat died in Paris on August 31, 1956, and was buried at Passy Cemetery.