Born in Syria in 1994, Rita Nakad started taking violin lessons at the age of 5 in Damascus.
Despite facing various challenges and life changes, the violin has consistently been Rita’s unwavering companion. 

At the age of 7, she emigrated with her family to Venezuela, where she continued her musical education at Valencia’s conservatory. From 2006 until 2012, she traveled weekly to the capital, Caracas, to attend the Mozarteum school of music, where she received violin lessons with Ruben Camacho and chamber music with the pianist Arnaldo Pizzolante.

Her dedication to music led to her participation in several masterclasses in the USA and Europe. In 2011, she attended the International Summer Academy of Music Lenk in Switzerland, where she met violinist and professor Adelina Oprean, who would become her mentor for the next 8 years.
Rita was accepted into the Hochschule für Musik in Basel in 2012, where she earned her bachelor’s (2016), master’s in performance (2018), and master’s in pedagogy (2020) degrees.
In 2014, she had the honor of meeting and performing for Maestro Daniel Barenboim, who recognized her dedication to music and invited her to join the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra as a tutti violinist.
In 2017, Rita received recognition in southern Germany and was awarded the Kulturpreis des Zonta Club Oberschwaben.

The year 2018 was significant for Rita. Besides completing her first master’s degree, she became one of the first academists at the Kammerorchester Basel. With this orchestra, she honed her skills in historical performance practices and the execution of period instruments. She also had the privilege of performing and recording with esteemed musicians of today’s scene, including Heinz Holliger, Isabelle Faust, Sol Gabetta, Riccardo Minasi, Regula Mühlemann, and others.
In 2019, she won the Dienemann Musikwettbewerb Preis and established her own chamber music festival, “Seeds Festival.”
In 2020, she completed her second master’s degree under the guidance of professors Raphael Oleg and Adelina Oprean.
Her years in Basel were filled with intense and wonderful experiences, connections, numerous masterclasses, concerts, projects, and continuous learning. At the end of 2021, she relocated to Germany, where she currently resides, teaches, and performs.

The year 2022 marked the beginning of a new chapter in Rita’s musical journey.
In January 2022 she made acquaintance with the master flute player and composer Dinesh Mishra. She not only became his student of improvisation, Indian music and composition, but was also commissioned to premiere and record his new compositions for violin.
Inspired by the work with Mishra, Rita founded the project “Renaissance of the Partita,” aiming to uplift the violin and Western music repertoire, and co-founded “Peace on Earth,” a growing project where, together with Mishra and guest musicians on stage, they share qualities of peace, depth, spirituality, and joy through their own composed pieces and improvisation.

Since February 2022, she works as a violin and viola teacher at the Iller-Weihung Musikschule in Illerkirchberg.

In April 2022, Rita became a member of the Present State Ensemble, a group specialized in baroque music, where she plays on a historical violin.

Rita’s passion, sensitivity, and expressive power have earned her recognition as a highly esteemed chamber musician and soloist, leading to invitations to perform with several ensembles and orchestras in Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, and Belgium. Her current exploration in improvisation has also led her to collaborate with various artists and painters for unique performances and exhibitions.