photo: Shervin Lainez

Shara Nova has released five albums under the moniker My Brightest Diamond and has composed works for yMusic, Brooklyn Rider, Nadia Sirota, Conspirare, Cantus Domus, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Roomful of Teeth, and many community choirs, as well as Aarhus Symfoni, North Carolina Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, and the BBC Concert Orchestra, among others. 

In 2019, she composed for over 600 community musicians and the Cincinnati Symphony in celebration of their 125th season, a piece entitled Look Around with director Mark DeChiazza. Her baroque chamber p’opera You Us We All premiered in the United States in October 2015 at BAM Next Wave Festival. With co-composer and performer Helga Davis, Nova created a four-screen film entitled Ocean Body along with director Mark DeChiazza, which premiered at The Momentary in August 2021, shortly followed by the premiere of Infinite Movement, her baroque masque for 100 musicians, set to text by artist Matthew Ritchie, which premiered at The University of North Texas in November 2021. 

Nova is the featured singer on The Blue Hour with the string orchestra A Far Cry and co-composers Rachel Grimes, Angélica Negrón, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and Caroline Shaw on Nonesuch Records. A collection of songs by Nico Muhly with Detroit’s acclaimed wind ensemble Akropolis Quintet also features Nova’s voice, entitled Hymns for Private Use. A number of music composers, including Sarah Kirkland Snider, Bryce and Aaron Dessner, Steve Mackey, and David Lang have created works specifically for her voice. She has collaborated with Matthew Barney, The Decemberists, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Sufjan Stevens, David Byrne, Laurie Anderson, and many others.

Albums

Titration

Release Date: April 28, 2023
Catalog Number: NV6504
21st Century
Vocal Music
Choir
TITRATION: a term used in chemistry to describe the process where two reagents are mixed drop by drop to avoid the explosive reaction that would occur from pouring them together quickly. Titration is also used to describe a therapeutic process in which one approaches trauma very slowly, “drop by drop,” so as to avoid unnecessary distress, flooding and potential re-traumatization. No title could be better fitting for Shara Nova’s new cycle of healing songs, recorded by The Crossing with conductor Donald Nally. TITRATION examines the experience of our own bodies, the capacity of our nervous systems, and the quest to identify and embrace our most difficult feelings. Styles converge, warm sounds emerge and voices soar next to laughter, humming, and the energy of Shara’s Indie band roots, with songs deeply inspired by Resmaa Menakem’s Somatic Abolitionist body of work and his call for communal practice. TITRATION offers a glimpse into various healing modalities while extending a hand of self-awareness to listeners alike.