Shara Nova

Shara Nova is a classically trained vocalist and self-taught multi-instrumentalist who records dazzling shapeshifting music as My Brightest Diamond. Over the course of five groundbreaking albums, including her most recent LP A Million And One, she has resisted the conventions of genre, blending elements of rock, art pop and chamber music into a sound totally her own. During her career, Nova has also collaborated and played with a long list of talented artists and filmmakers including but not limited to Sufjan StevensLaurie AndersonThe DecemberistsDavid Byrne & Fatboy SlimSarah Kirkland Snider, and Matthew Barney. Last fall she was announced as one of the four Carolina Performing Arts Creative Future Fellows and is a Kresge Fellow, Knights Grant recipient and a United States Artists fellow. She has composed works for yMusic, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Young New Yorkers’ Chorus, Brooklyn Rider, Nadia Sirota, and Roomful of Teeth and performed at Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Kennedy Center.

Talks

Introducing: My Brightest Diamond’s “Another Chance”

By Shara Nova | February 14, 2019

Introducing: My Brightest Diamond’s “Another Chance”

The premiere of a new music video, plus a playlist of songs that inspired the track.

Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) Talks Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings’ Give the People What They Want

By Shara Nova | January 15, 2014

Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) Talks Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings’ Give the People What They Want

The backstory to Give the People What They Want is that last summer, Sharon Jones was diagnosed with stage-two pancreatic cancer. The album...

Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) Talks Katy Perry’s Prism

By Shara Nova | November 1, 2013

Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) Talks Katy Perry’s Prism

The past is not repeatable. There is only the future. There are times in some artists' lives when they strike a chord with the culture at a...

Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) Talks Mavis Staples’ One True Vine

By Shara Nova | June 27, 2013

Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) Talks Mavis Staples’ One True Vine

In 1990, I heard Mavis Staples' voice for the first time. That year, I moved to a new state, a new culture, and a new high school, and I found...