bio

photo by Tibi Romanti

Aliya Ultan — often called the Nocturnal Cellist — is a composer and performer based in New York. Her work treats the cello as a shape-shifting voice moving between orchestral lyricism, cathartic noise, and deeply personal forms of storytelling.

Aliya has collaborated with artists including John Lurie (The Lounge Lizards), electroacoustic pioneer David Behrman, Aaron Dilloway (Wolf Eyes), saxophonist-composer Tim Berne, and composer-performers Tyshawn Sorey and George Lewis among others. Her interdisciplinary spirit frequently leads her to perform with puppeteers, dancers, and circus acrobats associated with Cirque du Soleil and the Bread and Puppet Theater—most notably touring with the internationally renowned collective Poncili Creación.

Aliya maintains a robust concert schedule across classical, jazz, and contemporary contexts, regularly performing and composing for the International Contemporary Ensemble, Either/Or Ensemble, and various big bands. Through these diverse collaborations, she has appeared on Broadway, the Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Blue Note, Birdland Jazz Club, Barclays Center, BAM, La MaMa, Issue Project Room, The Public Theater, Roulette Intermedium and more.

Following her self-released album Witch Hunt, which she supported with a sweeping 40-date tour in exclusively artist-run spaces across the US and Canada, Ultan is set to release her latest album, Looks Far Woman, on Kou Records. Produced by Randall Dunn (Björk, Sunn O))), Jóhann Jóhannsson), the project explores the outer limits of the acoustic cello as both a vibrational and healing phenomenon.

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. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Composition and Computer Technologies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA.

Aliya currently lives in the woods of upstate New York with her three black cats and co-leads the Creative Music Studio's Improvisers Orchestra, an ensemble lineage connected to Karl Berger and Ornette Coleman.