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Shara Nova

Shara Nova (previously Worden) is the lead singer and songwriter for My Brightest Diamond. As a composer she is most recognized for her choral compositions and the baroque chamber opera "You Us We All". New music composers Sarah Kirkland Snider, David Lang, Steve Mackey and Bryce Dessner have composed pieces for Nova's voice. She has recorded as a guest vocalist with David Byrne, Laurie Anderson, The Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens, Jedi Mind Tricks, The Blind Boys of Alabama and Stateless as well as extensive collaborations with visual artists Matthew Ritchie and Matthew Barney. She was formerly the frontwoman of AwRY. On March 3, 2016, Shara legally changed her last name from Worden to Nova after divorcing her husband, to whom she had been married most of her adult life.[1][2]

Shara Nova

(1974-04-22) April 22, 1974
El Dorado, Arkansas

1997–present

Life[edit]

Nova was born in El Dorado, Arkansas. Her father was an accordion player and choir director and her mother was an organist for their Pentecostal church. Nova's uncle Donald Ryan, a classical and jazz pianist and arranger, taught her piano lessons as a child. Nova's family moved to many different states when she was a child, including significant time in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, and Ypsilanti, Michigan. [3]


Nova graduated from the University of North Texas with a BA in vocal performance.[4] After college, she lived in Moscow, Russia, for a year where she studied Russian and wrote songs, producing a self-released, limited edition EP, Session I. She moved to New York City, where she continued to study opera with Josephine Mongiardo. In 2009 Nova moved to Detroit, Michigan.


She married in 1997 and divorced in 2016, legally changing her name from Worden (her ex-husband's surname) to Nova. With her ex-husband she has one child, Constantine Jamesson Worden, born in 2010.[2]

Letters from Charles: for . Performed at the 92nd Street Y in Tribeca. Performed March 2010.

yMusic

A Paper, A Pen, A Note to a Friend: for yMusic. Released on Beautiful Mechanical ( 2011).

New Amsterdam Records

A Whistle, A Tune, A Macaroon: for yMusic. Released on Beautiful Mechanical (New Amsterdam Records 2011).

Skin and Bones: for yMusic

From the Invisible to the Visible: for organist James McVinnie and violist Nadia Sirota commissioned by MusicNOW festival in March 2012. Released on the album Baroque (Bedroom Community 2013)

The Pyramid Songs : 3 songs for , first performed by the choir at Crossing Borders Festival at BAM in New York, May 2012.

The Brooklyn Youth Chorus

Kings of Macedonia: music for brass quartet, drums and choir for 's play Kings of Macedonia. She also performed in the play as the character The Whore in May 2012 at The Kitchen.

Andrew Ondrejcak

Phase 1 & III: music for marching band. Performed by (2013) for the opening ceremonies of Art X. Funded by The Kresge Foundation.

The Detroit Party Marching Band

The Pleiades: 5 songs for the Young New Yorkers' Chorus. Commissioned 2013.

YOU, US, WE, ALL: Nova composed the music for a baroque opera designed and directed by Andrew Ondrejcak; performed in Antwerp, Belgium, May 2013.

[7]

Titration: song cycle for acapella choir

[8]

Thelmagazine.com

Asthmatickitty.com

Pacificlectic.com