FINDING HOME
Shasta completed the training expected of classical musicians: conservatories in Amsterdam and London, international competitions, awards, and meticulous discipline. She even passed on this tradition abroad, teaching viola and music theory at the conservatory in India. By every conventional standard, she had made it in the world of classical music.
And then she found herself outside its walls.
Today, Shasta is something the classical music world doesn’t quite know what to do with: the founder of the Naked String Quartet, a rotating ensemble of twenty musicians who perform unclothed at KitKat — one of Berlin’s most private and myth-shrouded clubs.
But this conversation isn’t really about nudity, not about nightlife, not even about KitKat. It’s about a woman who has left behind the notion of what a “serious” musician should look like — in search of something more honest.
In this portrait, Shasta talks about the name her parents gave her, the discipline that shaped her, the door that closed behind her in classical music, and the one that opened instead — and about finding a home.
Note: This episode contains explicit language.
