photo by Luz Gallardo
Nadia Sirota is a violist, educator, and Peabody Award-winning producer. She is known for her “tenaciously good ear and her ability to throw herself bodily into the landscapes that composers bring to her.” (Pitchfork) In all branches of her artistic life, she aims to open classical music up to a broader audience. Nadia’s singular sound and expressive execution have served as muse to dozens of composers, including Nico Muhly, Ellen Reid, Missy Mazzoli, Marcos Balter, Gabriella Smith, Bryce Dessner, and Donnacha Dennehy.
To date, she has released four albums of commissioned music, first things first (2009), Baroque (2013), Keep In Touch (2016), and Tessellatum (2017). Nadia is a member of Bedroom Community, a collective of musically diverse artists who work and collaborate at Reykjavik’s Greenhouse Studios.
“Among the world’s top viola soloists,” (NY Times) Nadia has appeared with orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Colorado and Detroit Symphonies, the National Arts Centre and Spanish National Orchestras, and the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France. She is a member of the genre-leading chamber sextet yMusic, and she has lent her signature sound to a dizzying array of projects, appearing on albums and concert stages with such artists as The National, Meredith Monk, David Bowie, Björk, Laurie Anderson, ANOHNI, Ben Folds and Paul Simon.
Nadia received a Peabody Award for her podcast Meet the Composer With Nadia Sirota on New York Public Radio’s WQXR/Q2. From 2018 to 2022, she served as the New York Philharmonic’s inaugural Creative Partner. From 2023-2026, Nadia was the first Creative Associate at Large at the Juilliard School, where she currently serves on the chamber music faculty. Since 2024, she has curated and hosted her Living Music concert series at Lincoln Center. With her partner James Lemkin, Nadia is a co-founder of Eclipse Projects, a boutique agency specializing in artist management and creative producing, based in Los Angeles and New York.
Selected Press
LA Times - Learning to be a conductor is exorbitantly pricey. A new L.A. co-op offers a corrective
The New York Times - Review: Carnegie Hall Makes an Intimate Space More Intimate
New York Magazine - Onstage or On a Podcast, Nadia Sirota Makes You Listen
Thrillist - Classical Music Isn't Dead, And This Violist-turned-podcaster Is Here to Prove It
Wall Street Journal - Pulling Strings on the Music Scene
Pitchfork - Nadia Sirota - Tessellatum
The New Yorker - Q2 Music's Brilliant 'Meet the Composer' Podcast
New York Times - With ‘Meet the Composer,’ Nadia Sirota Illuminates New Music
NPR - Nadia Sirota On Making Music Accessible (Even When It's Weird)
The Guardian - Meet the Composer: the podcast that's demystifying classical music
Paris Review - Nadia Sirota and Her Viola
“She is a relentless commissioner and performer of music, and has brought forth an impressive thicket of it into existence. Her pursuit of new work is as admirable as her tenaciously good ear and her ability to throw herself bodily into the landscapes that composers bring to her. ”
“If the ancient and unassuming viola is having a renaissance in contemporary music, it’s thanks largely to Nadia Sirota, who specializes in, well, anything a composer can throw at her.”