Ava Nazar is an Iranian-American pianist and educator. She is a graduate of the Juilliard school where she received her Master’s degree in Collaborative Piano, and Manhattan School of Music where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance. 

 

Ava has performed at notable venues such as the United Nations, Merkin Hall at Lincoln Center, National Sawdust, American Museum of Natural History, and Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. Her recent performances include those at Stanford Jazz Workshop, Sam Mazza Castle, Newark library, Santa Clara University, and at Sunset Music & Arts and Old First Concerts series in San Francisco. Ava’s festival appearances include the Aspen Music Festival, the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, and Académies Internationales d'été du Grand Nancy in France. 

 

Ava has also had the privilege of working with many distinguished musicians including Jonathan Feldman, Margo Garrett, Andrew Harley, Cameron Stowe, Roger Vignoles, Rita Sloan, Anne Epperson, J.J. Penna, Diane Richardson,  Henri Barda, Donn-Alexandre Feder, Franz Helmerson, and David Finckel. 

 

Passionate about expanding musical access across communities, Ava has volunteered as a pianist with the Sing for Hope organization which aims at bringing art to communities in need. Additionally, Ava has served as an AmeriCorps fellow through the ArtistYear organization where she taught music to around 100 low-income middle schoolers in a public school in New York, and was able to raise funds for the school to purchase instruments needed for a music program. 

 

Ava’s interest in and exploration of new music have led her to work with many living composers. To this end she has premiered and performed works by different composers in the US and her home country Iran. Additionally, Ava enjoys performing at non-standard venues. She has had multiple performances at Port Authority Bus Terminal, public schools, nursing houses, and hospitals.