bio
Sonya Belaya (she/her/they) is a first generation Russian-American pianist, singer, composer, and improviser. Based in New York, Belaya’s creative practice uses research of Western social work practices, theatrical storytelling, jazz, rituals of domesticity, and Russian folkloric and bard protest musics to challenge how Western culture codifies the immigrant experience.
Committed to multiplicity, she is a diverse music-maker invested in the development intimate, meaningful collaborations. Conscious of her role as part of a broader community, Belaya prioritizes power-sharing and storytelling as a symbol of healing through vulnerability.
Sonya’s awards include 2024 Civitella Ranieri Fellow, the 2022 ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award, 2021 American Composers Forum Create Award, the 2020-2021 Resident Artist & 2021-2022 Commissioned Artist at Roulette Intermedium, made possible by the Jerome Foundation. Her work has been additionally supported by Foundation for the Contemporary Arts.
Sonya’s lead project is “Dacha”, an octet flowing freely through influences of creative music, jazz, folk, and contemporary music. The ensemble seeks to preserve and re-contextualize the ancestral memories of Russian folk traditions. Consisting of musicians from diverse music backgrounds, the project uses storytelling and improvisation as a governing principle to transcend these differences for deeper musical dialogue. Dacha was born out of a necessity to find a sense of home and belonging, when Belaya’s mother went missing in 2014. This resulted in the first project, “Songs My Mother Taught Me”, a five song cycle released in May 2019. Belaya released a second album with the ensemble, “Dacha: Live at Roulette”, in September 2020.
Sonya is a member of the co-led trio ALAARA ( Grey McMurray on guitar, Nicole Patrick on drums, Sonya Belaya piano/synths). The trio creates long form improvisations that prioritize patience, effortlessly traversing the spaces of jazz, experimental minimalism, and ambient music. In the lineage of loving friendship, the trio’s strength lies in the deepest listening, the vastness of their individual multiplicities, and an understanding that the present moment is the most precious one.
Belaya has also collaborated with Amir ElSaffar, Tanner Porter, John Roberts, Lee Tesche of Algiers, poet Ama Birch, WildUp, and New Music Detroit.
Belaya has extensive experience as an educator. They have been an artist-in-residence at University of Michigan Center For World Performance Studies, taught masterclasses at University of Michigan Department of Jazz, and previously taught at Adelphi University’s Department of Dance. She is currently on faculty at Face the Music at the Kaufman Music Center, Special Music School, and the Dalton School. Sonya Belaya is a Yamaha Artist.