Nadia Sirota

Nadia Sirota performing in 2014

Nadia Sirota (born in New York) is an American viola player.[1][a] Her father is Robert Sirota, a composer and conductor.[3]

Life and career

Sirota is best known for her singular sound and expressive execution, coaxing solo works from the likes of Nico Muhly, Daníel Bjarnason, Judd Greenstein, Marcos Balter and Missy Mazzoli.[b] Her debut album First Things First was released in 2009 on New Amsterdam Records and cited as a record of the year by The New York Times,[5] and her second album, Baroque, was released in March 2013.[6] In 2012, she recorded Nico Muhly's "Drones & Piano" with pianist Bruce Brubaker; it appears on the Bedroom Community recording Drones.

In addition to her work as a soloist, Sirota is a member of yMusic, ACME (the American Contemporary Music Ensemble) and Alarm Will Sound, and has lent her sound to recording and concert projects by such artists and songwriters as Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, Jónsi and Arcade Fire. Sirota also hosted a radio show on WQXR's New Music radio stream, Q2Music, for which she was awarded the 2010 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award in Radio and Internet Broadcasting.[7] Sirota is the recipient of Southern Methodist University's 2013 Meadows Prize, awarded to pioneering artists and scholars with an emerging international profile. In 2015, Sirota won a Peabody Award for her work on WQXR's Q2 Music podcast, Meet the Composer, which she co-created and hosted.[8] She received her undergraduate and master's degrees from the Juilliard School, and since 2007 has been on faculty at the Manhattan School of Music in their Contemporary Performance Program.[9]

Since 2018, Sirota has served as the New York Philharmonic’s Creative Partner.[10]

Discography

As leader

Year Album Notes
2017 Tessellatum a Bedroom Community release
2013 Baroque a Bedroom Community release
2009 First Things First with Judd Greenstein and Clarice Jensen

As sideman

Year Album Artists
2018 Never Let Me Down 2018 David Bowie
2018 Brighter Wounds Son Lux
2017 Planetarium Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly & James McAlister
2017 Thanks for Listening Chris Thile
2015 So There Ben Folds and yMusic
2015 Divers Joanna Newsom
2014 In the Hollows Dead Heart Bloom
2013 Secrets of Antikythera Andrew McPherson
2013 Trouble Will Find Me The National
2013 Lanterns Son Lux
2013 Traveling Alone Tift Merritt
2012 Swing Lo Magellan Dirty Projectors
2012 My Antagonist Jónsi
2012 Drones Nico Muhly
2012 Sugaring Season Beth Orton
2012 Gossamer Passion Pit
2012 Architecture of Loss Valgeir Sigurðsson
2011 Lar Fleur de L'Aube Arcade Fire
2011 Songs of Ascension Meredith Monk
2011 Puzzle Muteson En Garde
2011 Lumiere Dustin O'Halloran
2011 All Things Will Unwind My Brightest Diamond
2010 The Suburbs Arcade Fire
2010 Strange Waves Dirty Projectors
2010 Go Andrew McPherson
2010 I Drink the Air Before Me Nico Muhly
2010 High Violet The National
2010 LP4 Ratatat
2010 Strange Weather, Isn't It? !!!
2009 The Conformist Faux Fix
2008 A Thousand Shark's Teeth My Brightest Diamond
2006 Speaks Volumes Nico Muhly

Notes

  1. ^ [2] "The viola is one of those soulful, lost-in-the- middle instalments that occasionally erupt into the foreground – when Nadia Sirota is handling one, for example."
  2. ^ [4] "Muhly formed alliances with a number of musicians who have become regular collaborators, including Nadia Sirota, a violist. Sirota says of Muhly, "He is different from a lot of composers his age in that he prefers a kind of old-school way."

References

  1. ^ Introducing Nadia Sirota!, American Viola Society, December 10th, 2012
  2. ^ New York – Volume 42 Nos 15-22 2009
  3. ^ Q&A With Nadia Sirota The Juilliard School, April 2013. Archived copy accessed 12/6/2017
  4. ^ The New Yorker – Volume 84, Nos 1-7 – Page 81 2008
  5. ^ Kozinn, Allan (2009). "Classical Music Gift Guide". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 October 2010.
  6. ^ "Bedroom Community > Nadia Sirota". www.bedroomcommunity.net. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  7. ^ "42nd Annual ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards Announced". ASCAP. Archived from the original on 11 November 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  8. ^ "Meet the Composer". The Peabody Awards. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  9. ^ "Nadia Sirota". Manhattan School of Music. Archived from the original on 27 October 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  10. ^ "Bio". Nadia Sirota. Retrieved 9 August 2021.