Violist Jonah Sirota On Playing Quartets By Heart and His Latest Musical Endeavors

left: Jonah Sirota, photo credit Walker Pickering; right: Jonah’s debut album Strong Sad, album art by Michael Cina

Sunset ChamberFest is excited to welcome violist Jonah Sirota to the Festival for the first time. His enterprising debut album Strong Sad was released in 2018 by National Sawdust Tracks. It features new elegies for viola by Jonah, Paola Prestini, Nico Muhly, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Robert Sirota, A.J. McCaffrey, Rodney Lister, and a new work from the improv duo Mondegreen (Jonah Sirota and Kurt Knecht). His musical life is eclectic – appearing as a soloist, composer, chamber musician, session musician and teacher. Jonah tells us about playing from memory as a member of the now disbanded Chiara Quartet, pursuing new musical paths in LA, and upcoming projects. Hear him in Sunset’s Finale, which broadcasts on July 18 at 15:00 PST and will available to watch afterwards.

Shostakovich Quintet - Movses Pogossian, Geneva Lewis, Marisa Gupta, Mike Kaufman & Jonah Sirota, 2021 Sunset ChamberFest

You were a member of the renowned Chiara Quartet for 18 years. One of the many things the Quartet was known for was playing by heart. Memory is such a fraught topic for so many musicians. What was the experience like? Any insights on dealing with memory onstage?

Memory was a huge part of what we did, especially in the last five years of our full-time performing. We were playing entire concerts from memory, including cycles of the complete Bartók quartets. In all, we memorized over 25 works. Personally, I loved the freedom that came on-stage when the memory felt really secure, and there were just four people playing together with no stands in the way.  Getting to that point was intense though! I have never been a natural memorizer, and viola parts can be quite tricky to memorize, especially since the roles of melody, inner harmony, and bass-line are constantly changing. Feeling ready for performances was a constant effort, and the stress of that could be real. One of the best advantages of it, however, was that we all knew our parts and how they fit into the whole from the first rehearsal, because we needed to be at that level of situational awareness to even rehearse from memory. It meant that early rehearsals of a new piece were more high-pressure than usual, but first performances were somewhat less so. In concert, all kinds of things could happen, but usually after we had played a piece two or three times, it became pretty reliable, so we would just make sure that the initial performances were more informal (house concerts, student seminars, etc.) and we would tell the audience that they were “guinea pigs” for our memory process, because there were always kinks to get out.  Playing from memory was one of the hardest things I ever did, but it was a truly special experience!

You have relocated to LA, and are now in another chapter of your musical life. Could you tell us about that? What is the transition like embarking on new musical activities?

I came to Los Angeles three years ago, interested in learning about scoring music for visual media.  With the advice and guidance of great people within the industry, I am trying to put in my dues and learn this new skill set. It’s not totally starting from scratch, I’ve been writing concert music for several years, and I definitely use my viola playing in my soundtrack scores. I also enjoy playing with many of the wonderful musicians in town, and getting to play viola in all of these diverse settings.  This is a really unique musical city in that it is not at all weird to be doing music from more than one side.  

Cinematic Study #1, Original Music by Jonah Sirota, Original Visuals by Bailey Tsang

 Although you are still a musician, in a sense it seems like some of your professional activities now are akin to a change of career. Many musicians, (especially in light of the pandemic) have reevaluated their professional and personal lives. Any words of wisdom on finding courage and overcoming the fear of failure when pursuing new paths?

It’s totally scary to start a new thing, especially if it doesn’t fit neatly into the box of what we were taught in music school!  But ultimately, if you are finding the combination of stuff that really lights you up, you are going to be happier and more successful. I read an amazing book called The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield, and he basically says that fear is the sign that what you are doing is really important to you, and the you can use fear like a compass. If you’re scared of it, it is probably the direction you’re supposed to be heading.  

What projects are you involved with at the moment?

I’m working on publishing a set of viola etudes in cinematic idioms, and I recently had my first string quartet, Socially Distant, premiered and recorded as a part of the Uncertainty of Fate Festival at the Hartt School. This fall, I’ll be performing in more chamber music concerts, including with Village Concerts in Riverside, and with colleagues at the Colburn School Community School of Performing Arts (including Mike Kaufman!). And of course, it’s a huge pleasure to return to chamber music with the wonderful musicians of the Sunset ChamberFest!