Lindsey Stirling and ARKAI on Working Together, Taking Musical Risks and Their Excitement for What’s to Come
Categoria: Musica
After debuting an original song at the Gold Gala together, the three instrumentalists are looking forward to more collaborations.
Por Billboard | 14/05/2026
Two years ago when someone recommended that Lindsey Stirling reach out to ARKAI, a New York-based electroacoustic string duo, Stirling was immediately on board with the idea. The legendary genre-blending violinist primarily worked with producers who came to writing sessions with set backing tracks and were too nervous to recommend changes to her violin melodies. She rarely got to work with other string players. “I was so excited to collaborate with someone who spoke my language,” Stirling says to Billboard about ARKAI. “We did a writing session, and afterwards, I was like, ‘That was so fun.’ My little string heart was exploding.” ARKAI — which is made up of violinist Jonathan Miron and cellist Philip Sheegog — was equally as excited to work with Stirling. The two instrumentalists, who met as students at Juliard and have been making music together for almost eight years, looked up to Stirling for a long time. “Lindsey Stirling is an icon for the string community, because she showed us all what’s possible,” says Miron. “She showed us how we could take the old instrument, this violin, and bring it into mainstream sensibilities.” The synergy between the three musicians was instant, and in the two years since they’ve met, they’ve continued to cultivate it. ARKAI and Stirling regularly get together for writing and jam sessions. Last year, ARKAI joined Stirling on her “Master of Tides” cruise, a multi-day music festival at sea. Most recently, the trio performed at the Gold Gala, an annual event that brings together leaders from across industries to honor Asian Pacific and multicultural trailblazers. During their set at the Gold Gala, ARKAI and Stirling debuted original music on stage for the first time — a reimagining of ARKAI’s song “High Noon,” off their Grammy-winning 2025 album Brightside . Billboard sat down with Stirling, Miron and Sheegog to talk about their Gold Gala performance, what it’s like working together and what the trio is most excited for next. You all just performed at the Gold Gala. What did it mean to you to take the stage at an event all about celebrating API identities? Jonathan Miron: The Gold Gala is kind of like the Met Gala for the Asian community. So to get invited and to be featured at an event like that was a dream come true. Philip and I kicked off with a medley of iconic Asian soundtracks, and then Lindsey joined us on stage, and that was our first performance ever with Lindsey playing an original song. All these things coming together — we are still pinching ourselves, it was a crazy experience. And to look out into the audience, they were honoring people like Eileen Gu, and Jet Li. These are people we’ve seen on the screens. These are people we’ve seen kick ass at the Olympics. It’s unbelievable. And for us to be able to share our own music with these people is really an incredible honor. I