bio

Aliya Ultan — the Nocturnal Cellist — is a composer-performer based in Saugerties, New York. Raised in motion, she turned to music as a survival instinct, and never stopped moving. Her cello becomes a voice of its own: orchestral and grungy, seductive and unhinged — a medium of myth, memory, and pure sensation.

As a musician, Aliya is found at the cross section of all things working with John Lurie of the Lounge Lizards, David Behrman a pioneer of electro-acoustic music, Aaron Dilloway of Wolf Eyes, and composer-performer Tyshawn Sorey to name a few. With both classical and jazz training, Aliya has been in high demand performing in all but a few of New York's finest venues including Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center Outdoors, BAM, Issue Project Room, National Sawdust, Roulette Intermedium, Birdland Jazz Club, Blue Note, Closeup, Ornithology as well as on Broadway in Hadestown working with Ani Defranco, Allison Russell, Ben Perowsky, Brian Drye, and Anaïs Mitchell among others.

Aliya's creative work reaches far beyond music at times into film, circus, and theatre receiving commissions from the International Contemporary Music Ensemble, Roulette Intermedium, the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, Splinter Reeds, and Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble. In addition to creating her own multimedia works, Aliya often supports twins, Pablo and Efrain Del Hierro of the notorious Poncili Creación (Puerto Rico) and the legendary, Yoshiko Chuma in her School of Hardknocks (NYC) at venues such as MoMA: PS1, La Mama, and the streets both nationally and overseas.

As a soloist, Aliya breaks down any sense of genre or style combining cathartic noise with sparkling harmonies. In her latest album 'Witch Hunt' she explores herbal medicine, myth, and psychosomatic frequency zones through sound and text. After self-releasing this project, Aliya booked a month-long tour in exclusively artist-run spaces performing over 40 shows both in the States and Canada. In January of 2026, she will be releasing another solo record produced by Randall Dunn on the up and coming music label, Kou Records.

Aliya holds a BM from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in cello and composition under the tutelage of composer, Dr. Stephen Hartke and cellist, Darrett Adkins. Additionally, Aliya began a MM at Wesleyan University under the tutelage of composers, Alvin Lucier and Dr. Tyshawn Sorey before leaving due to Covid.

You can now find Aliya in the woods of upstate NY with her three black cats, co-leading the Creative Improvisors Orchestra founded by composer-performers, Karl Berger and Ornette Coleman.