About Lyris

Lyris began her violin studies at the age of 3 in the exotic wilds of Fairfield County, Connecticut. At 11, she was accepted into the Juilliard Pre-College Division and at 17, she started a double-degree program between the Juilliard School and Columbia University where she earned a B.A. in Anthropology and Music from Columbia and an M.M. in Violin Performance from Juilliard.

At college, Lyris was active in contemporary music performance, playing regularly with the New Juilliard Ensemble and at the Museum of Modern Arts Summergarden concerts. She worked as Musical Director of many musical productions at Columbia, where she also studied composition and electronic music. At Juilliard during that time, she performed with a number of stellar conductors such as James DePriest, Kurt Masur, Pierre Boulez, and Bobby McFerrin, and toured Japan and Korea with the Juilliard Orchestra.

Since then, Lyris has become an active session violinist in NYC, performing and recording with artists from many genres. She has been heard on Bryan Adams' MTV Unplugged, live with Bono and Quincy Jones at the 1999 NetAid concert, live with the 2003 Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and has toured Europe and America with RCA recording artist Ke. She has also played with hip-hop giant Jay-Z and Beyoncé with ?Love of the Roots, Dan Zanes, Ornette Coleman, Toshi Reagon, and many others. 

Aside from working with bands, Lyris enjoys collaborating with artists from other media. She has composed and performed with choreographers, musical directed theater pieces, worked as sound designer for games and other interactive media, as well as been behind the board as a producer.

Lyris formed progressive death metal band HUNG which released several records, most recently on The End Records. Lyris' trip-hop comedy/music duo with Kate Rigg, Slanty Eyed Mama, performs at colleges and festivals around the world, including the Perth International Arts Festival (Australia), The Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, Vancouver International Comedy Festival, Grand Performances L.A., and the NY Asian American Heritage Festival in Union Square Park. They were also featured on PBS' Race in the Place.

Lyris currently tours and records with the Indigo Girls and streams regularly on Twitch.