Rituparna Mukherjee

Born in Mumbai, Rituparna Mukherjee, a third-year Viola Fellow at the New World Symphony, was raised on Tagore songs, ragas and Sanskrit chantings. From performing at Carnegie Hall with the Oberlin Orchestra to the Jazz Educators Network in New Orleans with the Genre Nova Ensemble, and rebuilding houses and performing in Port Au Prince after Hurricane Harvey, Rituparna strives to be a versatile musician using music as a means of communication and understanding between different people and communities. She has performed for Thomas Riebl and Vijay Gupta, has shared the stage with Anthony Roth Constanzo and Jonathan Hayward, and worked with improvisors such as Alain Mallet and Layth Siddiq.  

Inspired by her curiosity about people and their behavior, Ritu pursued a double degree in viola performance under Peter Slowik and psychology with a minor in economics. At Oberlin, Ritu was a member of the Performance and Improvisation Ensemble under Jay Ashby and Jamey Haddad, percussionist with Paul Simon. She could explore the sound of the world working with musicians Layth Siddiq (Jordanian), Alain Mallet (French) and Chico Pinheiro (Brazilian). As a result, Ritu recognized a deep desire to use music to connect and cultivate empathy. She was a founding member of Strings at Grafton at the Grafton Correctional Institution, uncovering her love for teaching and bringing music to people who did not have access to it. Ritu has taught remotely K-12 students in Mombasa; under The Canales Project at Triple Threat Academy under Carla Canales, Senior Advisor for Cultural Exchange at the National Endowment for the Arts under President Biden’s administration, and in an underserved school district in Central Florida.    

Ritu completed her master of music degree at New England Conservatory, where she received the Presidential Distinction Award, under Nicholas Cords. She continues to pursue creating and imagining on viola while remaining driven by her commitment for community outreach as a Community Performance and Partnerships Fellow performing in homeless shelters, libraries and underserved schools around Boston. Ritu’s career has ranged from performing with Steve Mackey as part of the Boston Symphony’s Prelude Concerts, to being a part of the 2023 Spoleto Festival Orchestra. She returned to Spoleto in 2024, as a Tell Your Story Fellow, where she collaborated with a member of the Charleston community to compose a sonic tapestry of their story.

As a Tanglewood fellow, Ritu has performed with conductors Andris Nelsons, Esa Pekka Salonen, Alan Gilbert and Hannu Lintu, in addition to sharing the stage with Orli Shaham and Emanuel Ax. She is eternally grateful to all her teachers and mentors Judy Offman, Daniel Getz and Sheldon Person.