March 2023 T@MS Program

Composer Nina Shekhar curates an evening of chamber music by and for Friends!

Performers include Brightwork Ensemble, Lyris Quartet, and Nina Shekhar playing music by Nicolás Lell Benavides, Akshaya Avril Tucker and Nina Shekhar with video interludes by Nina Shekhar.

Nina Shekhar is a composer and multimedia artist who explores the intersection of identity, vulnerability, love, and laughter to create bold and intensely personal works.

Described as tart and compelling (New York Times), vivid (Washington Post), and an orchestral supernova (LA Times), her music has been commissioned and performed by leading artists including the New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, Nashville Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, Albany Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Eighth Blackbird, International Contemporary Ensemble, JACK Quartet, New York Youth Symphony, Alarm Will Sound, The Crossing, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, ETHEL, violinist Jennifer Koh, saxophonist Timothy McAllister, Ensemble Échappé, Music from Copland House, soprano Tony Arnold, Third Angle New Music, The New York Virtuoso Singers, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Lyris Quartet, Ray-Kallay Duo, and New Music Detroit. Her work has been featured by Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl, Kennedy Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Library of Congress, National Gallery of Art, National Sawdust, I Care If You Listen, ScoreFollower, and WNYC/New Sounds (New York), WFMT (Chicago), and KUSC and KPFK (Los Angeles) radio.

Recent and upcoming events include performances by the New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic (joined by soloists Nathalie Joachim and Pamela Z), Seattle Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra, and her Hollywood Bowl debut with the LA Phil. Current projects include commissions for the New York Philharmonic, Grand Rapids Symphony, and Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) (sponsored by LA Phil and New Music USA). Shekhar is the recipient of the 2021 Rudolf Nissim Prize, two ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards (2015 and 2019), 2022 BMI Student Composer Award, and the 2018 ASCAP Foundation Leonard Bernstein Award, funded by the Bernstein family.

Aside from composing, Shekhar is a versatile performing artist as a flutist, pianist, and saxophonist. She has been featured by the National Flute Association, and she has performed in the Detroit International Jazz Festival and as a soloist with the USC Thornton Symphony and the Lublin Philharmonic at the Poland International Piano Festival.

Shekhar is currently a PhD candidate in Music Composition at Princeton University. She previously completed composition graduate studies at University of Southern California and undergraduate studies at University of Michigan, earning dual degrees in music composition and chemical engineering. She was recently appointed as the 2021-2023 Composer-in-Residence for Young Concert Artists. She is a 2022-2023 Civitella Ranieri Foundation Music Fellow. An active educator, Shekhar is a faculty mentor for Luna Composition Lab and Brightwork newmusics Project Beacon initiative and previously served as a Composer Teaching Artist Fellow for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. She has also held guest composer residencies at New York University, University of Colorado-Boulder, Western Michigan University, and Portland State University. She is a first-generation Indian American and a native of Detroit, Michigan.