Shara Nova
Shara Nova 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.
Life
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.
Nova graduated from the University of North Texas with a BA in vocal performance. 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 to Nova. With her ex-husband she has one child, Constantine Jamesson Worden, born in 2010.
Career
In 2001, Nova self-released two albums in collaboration with guitarist Shane Yarbrough under the moniker AwRY, The Orange Album and Quiet B Sides. A short tour followed the release of the albums, after which the band dissolved. In 2002 and 2003, Nova wrote music for Adam Rapp's play Trueblinka and subsequently for Hammerstein's production of Jean-Paul Sartre's Men Without Shadows. She began studying composition with Padma Newsome during this time. Then in 2004 she began touring in Sufjan Stevens' band to support his album "Michigan". In 2006, she released the album "Bring Me The Workhorse" on under the moniker My Brightest Diamond and was nominated for Female Artist of the Year in the PLUG Independent Music Awards. The My Brightest Diamond albums "A Thousand Shark's Teeth", "All Things Will Unwind", and "This Is My Hand" were also released on Asthmatic Kitty Records. Nova became a Kresge performing arts fellow in 2012.Collaborations
Nova made significant contributions to the Sufjan Stevens' album Illinois in 2005, and toured with Stevens in support of the album in 2006. She made a guest appearance on the Jedi Mind Tricks album Servants in Heaven, Kings in Hell in 2006 and on the Vinnie Paz album Season of the Assassin in 2010. In 2008 Nova sang as a background vocalist for Laurie Anderson during five performances at The Rose Theater for the show Homeland. She performed guest vocals on "The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid" and "The Queen's Rebuke/The Crossing" from the 2009 album by The Decemberists, The Hazards of Love, singing vocals for the part of "The Queen". She also performed with The Decemberists on their "A Short Fazed Hovel Tour" along with Becky Stark from Lavender Diamond. Nova performed in and wrote the song "Nine" for Bryce and Aaron Dessner's multi-media performance The Long Count with texts and images by Matthew Ritchie. The Long Count was performed at the Krannert Center, BAM, the Holland Festival and the Barbican Centre.She performed vocals on Sufjan Stevens' 2010 album The Age of Adz, notably taking the lead during a section of "Impossible Soul". In January 2012 Nova performed the premiere of the song cycle Death Speaks by David Lang with pianist Nico Muhly, violinist Owen Pallett and guitarist Bryce Dessner. In 2015, Nova provided vocals for Sarah Kirkland Snider's Unremembered, and debuted her opera, You Us We All, in the United States.
In 2023–2024, Nova performed in Illinoise, the stage adaptation of Sufjan Stevens' Illinois; Nova performed as the "moth" Barsine, playing guitar and providing vocals.
Compositions
- Letters from Charles: for . Performed at the 92nd Street Y in Tribeca. Performed March 2010.
- A Paper, A Pen, A Note to a Friend: for yMusic. Released on Beautiful Mechanical.
- A Whistle, A Tune, A Macaroon: for yMusic. Released on Beautiful Mechanical.
- 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
- The Pyramid Songs : 3 songs for , first performed by the choir at Crossing Borders Festival at BAM in New York, May 2012.
- 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.
- Phase 1 & III: music for marching band. Performed by The Detroit Party Marching Band for the opening ceremonies of Art X. Funded by The Kresge Foundation.
- 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.
- Titration: song cycle for acapella choir
Discography
Solo albums
Collaborations and guest appearances
Credited as Shara Worden
Significant album contributions
Individual songs
With AwRY
With My Brightest Diamond
Collaborations and compilation contributions
| Year | Artists | Album title | Song title | Additional information |
| 2006 | Mews Too | "Riding Horses" | MBD recording of a song originally published by AwRY | |
| 2007 | OKX: A Tribute to OK Computer | "Lucky" | MBD remake of Radiohead song | |
| 2007 | Cross-Pollination: The Mixtape Vol. 1 | "Hi, Remember Me?" | ||
| 2008 | Guilt By Association Vol. 2 | "Tainted Love" | MBD remake of Gloria Jones/Soft Cell song | |
| 2008 | I'll Stay 'Til After Christmas | "Nature Boy" | MBD remake of eden ahbez/Nat King Cole song | |
| 2008 | The White Album Recovered No. 2 | "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" | MBD remake of Beatles song | |
| 2009 | Dark Was The Night | "Feeling Good" | MBD remake of Nina Simone song | |
| 2009 | "The Honey Bee" | MBD contribution to support the Invisible Children charity | ||
| 2010 | My Brightest Diamond/Dayna Kurtz | "Gone Away"/"Postcards From Downtown" | "Postcards From Downtown" | Split single, each artist covers a song from the other; 7" release limited to 1,000 numbered copies |
| 2011 | Liz Janes | Time & Space | "Bitty Thing" | Shara Worden vocals, credited as My Brightest Diamond |
| 2012 | The Songs of Leonard Cohen Covered | "Bird On A Wire" | MBD remake of Leonard Cohen song, with Marc Ribot | |
| 2022 | Rachel Grimes, Angélica Negrón, Shara Nova, Caroline Shaw, Sarah Kirkland Snider, A Far Cry | The Blue Hour | all | A song cycle written collaboratively by five female composers, lyrics excerpted from the poem “On Earth” from the book Blue Hour by Carolyn Forché |