In Op. 5, Episode 4, Brandon and Justin have a fun, engaging interview with composer, producer, and violist Jonah Sirota. Jonah’s varied career has taken him from violist of the renowned Chiara Quartet to composing for major film scores in LA. Some of his recent film scoring credits include the 2021 Oscar-nominated short “If Anything Happens I Love You,” the 2021 Sundance film, Wild Hearts, and major cinematic releases from Mulan to the Mandalorian.
While Jonah has pivoted somewhat in his career direction, he retains his love of performing chamber music, and is especially interested in performing and recording exciting new works. His debut solo recording STRONG SAD, showcases premiere recordings of elegies for the viola by Nico Muhly, Paola Prestini, Arthur Joseph McCaffrey, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Robert Sirota, Kurt Knecht, and Jonah himself.
In today’s episode, we chatted with Jonah about his decision to pivot from being a high level chamber musician to breaking into the film scoring industry. We also talk about Jonah’s philosophy about forging your own creative path through music, and how following your natural interests, (e.g. pop music, film music, folk music) can make for a really fulfilling and potentially lucrative career. We also talked about some of the benefits, drawbacks, and complexities of being a self-promoting artist on social media.
Believe or not, Jonah does have other interests outside of music, and we had a fun time hearing about his keen enthusiasm for theme parks. He enjoys traveling the country to check out new parks with his family. Like most things in his life, Jonah doesn’t do things by half-measures, and his passion for theme parks is no different. You can check out his articles on Theme Park Insider, an online publication for all theme park aficionados and enthusiasts.