Nokuthula Endo Ngwenyama (No-goo-TOO-lah En-gwen-YAH-ma), also known as ‘Thula’ (TOO-lah), is a distinguished violist and composer celebrated for her performances and compositions. Born in Los Angeles, CA, to Zimbabwean and Japanese parents, she rose to prominence upon winning the Primrose International Viola Competition at sixteen and then the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. This success led to acclaimed debuts at the Kennedy Center and New York’s 92nd Street Y and earned her a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Ngwenyama has performed globally, including at the Louvre, Suntory Hall and the White House. She is a member of Umama Womama, a trio with composer-performers Valerie Coleman (flute) and Han Lash (harp and piano). Her compositions have been featured by major orchestras and ensembles worldwide, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orquesta Nacional de España and the Chicago, Detroit, London, San Francisco and Toronto symphony orchestras. Boston Classical Review praised her string quartet Flow, written for the Takács Quartet, as ‘gloriously, radiantly sincere and affecting’.

Ngwenyama, whose first and last names mean ‘Mother of Peace’ and ‘Lion’ in Zulu, attended Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences and the Colburn School for the Performing Arts before graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music. As a Fulbright scholar she studied at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris. Ngwenyama received a Master of Theological Studies degree from Harvard Divinity School, and she is the first composer-in-residence with the Phoenix Chamber Music Society.

from notes by Nokuthula Ngwenyama © 2024