Sirius Quartet Welcomes Violist Sunjay Jayaram

After 30 years, our violist Ron Lawrence- the founding member of Sirius Quartet– is stepping away from the quartet to pursue other projects.  He thanks all of the previous quartet members and collaborators over the years for their joyful music-making and is pleased to leave the quartet in such capable hands.

We’d like to thank Ron for all of his years spent forging new paths forward for the creative string playing community in NYC and beyond and he will forever be a part of the Sirius family. Ron will be joining us for a handful of select dates in the US in May with pianist Richie Beirach, details forthcoming.

With Ron’s departure, we would also like to announce that we are excited to have Sunjay Jayaram joining us as our new violist!

Sunjay is a violist, violinist and oud player who enjoys playing and improvising in a wide variety of styles and genres including jazz, Carnatic music and hip hop in addition to traditional and contemporary classical music.

Originally from South Carolina, Sunjay moved to New York to pursue an undergraduate degree in violin performance at NYU with Laura Hamilton and is currently a graduate student at the Mannes School of Music studying with Jennifer Koh.  He has worked with a wide variety of groups and ensembles in NYC such as the American Composers Orchestra, 8-Bit Big Band, Westside Chamber players and P’an, a global traditional music collective. Sunjay has also worked with musicians and directors including Ted Sperling, Bobby Sanabria, David Bloom and others.

From Sunjay:
“Hello Sirius fans and supporters!  I am very grateful to my new friends Gregor Huebner, Fung Chern Hwei and Jeremy Harman for allowing me to contribute to Sirius Quartet’s distinct voice.  I believe strongly in the energy of the quartet’s music and I look forward to adding my own musical and creative energy to the band!”

Sunjay will be joining us for his inaugural concert with us on Saturday, March 11th at Brooklyn’s Barbès, and we hope that our NYC friends will help us pack the place to welcome him!