Fueled by a dedication to community building through music, Serbian-American violinist Ela Kodžas enjoys a dynamic career that spans the United States, Europe and Asia. Specializing in historical performance, she has won prizes at the Juilliard Historical Performance Concerto Competition, the Premio Bonporti (Italy), and the Mica Comberti Prize (UK). Kodžas has performed under renowned directors including Rachel Podger, Masaaki Suzuki, John Butt, William Christie, and Jakob Lehmann, and was featured as a soloist with Juilliard415 in Alice Tully Hall and on tour throughout China. Recent engagements include performances with Les Musiciens du Louvre, Vox Luminis, Insula Orchestra, Les Arts Florissants, Theotokos, and American Bach Soloists. She was appointed as a Mercury-Juilliard Fellow (Houston, TX) and is an inaugural Academist of the Insula Camerata (Paris, FR). As a founding member of period ensemble Quartet Novalis, she holds a deep fascination with classical and romantic performance practices. The quartet has performed at the Carmel Bach Festival and Boston and Utrecht Early Music Fringe Festivals. Most recently, they were selected as the Emerging Ensemble Residency Winner (Arizona Early Music) and the Pegasus Rising Artist (Pegasus Early Music), and invited to perform at Early Music America’s Emerging Artist Showcase. A native of Rochester, NY, Kodžas holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, UCLA, The Juilliard School, and the Royal Academy of Music (London), where she was a recipient of the Christopher Hogwood Award. In her free time, she can be found avidly dog watching or searching for hidden treasures at flea markets.
