In 2015, Nico Muhly composed a viola concerto for Nadia Sirota, a project they had envisioned since meeting at Juilliard some ten years prior.
Created in New York, the resulting music spans a decade of friendship and collaboration between a composer and a musician and is an exploration of the relationship between the imagined and the possible, the traditional and the contemporary — hallmarks of Nadia’s creative work.
Co-commissioned by Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Festival de Saint Denis, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra.
The US premiere performance, with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, under maestro Leonard Slatkin, was issued on Sirota’s 2016 album, Keep In Touch, available from Bedroom Community.
“The concerto is… a piece of rare, melodic beauty. Muhly and Sirota’s music goes straight for the heart without sacrificing any sophistication along the way”. (Exclaim)
“If there were to be some grand statement of what the two are capable of, then the Viola Concerto is certainly it… A celebration of a lasting artistic relationship — and, you presume, friendship — embodied in an inventive and thrilling pairing of works, viola front-and-centre throughout” (Line of Best Fit)
