About.

"An indispensable force on the Bay Area music scene"

-Andrew Gilbert, East Bay Times

Shaina Evoniuk was born and raised in Ashland OR, where she began classical training at the age of five with Kendra Law, and continued with Russian master, Faina Podolnaya. Her early summers often included performing with her father's bands, and fiddling at bluegrass festivals and camps. At the age of 18, she moved to California to attend the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. There she studied under the tutelage of accomplished violinist, Mr. Wei He, and earned her Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance.

Upon graduating, and inspired by her generation's virtuosic force in the lively pulse of the San Francisco music scene, Shaina began branching out stylistically. Currently in demand as a national and international performer, she plays everything from classical to funk, hip-hop to rock.

She has toured internationally with William Close & the Earthharp Collective, Jazz Mafia, and the fiddle band Barrage. Currently she's enjoying being home based in the Bay Area leading the Jazz Mafia string section, Eclecta String Quartet, and five piece genre-bending chamber ensemble Cosa Nostra Strings.

Recent recording credits include violin performance & arrangement for Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello’s December 2020 release of The Christmas Song, and the acoustic version of Shawn Mendes’ hit single Wonder. She also performed violin on Leon Bridges' 2019 GRAMMY-winning song Bet Aint Worth The Hand, Lizzo’s 2020 GRAMMY-winning album, Cuz I Love You, and Alphabet Rocker's 2020 GRAMMY-nominated album, The Love. In 2018 she released her debut solo album Hitwoman Honey to critical acclaim & a sold out album release show. Her crossover chamber jazz project, Cosa Nostra Strings, released three albums in 2020.

Shaina has performed with ODESZA, Smokey Robinson, Sigur Ros, Train, TroyBoi, William Close & The Earthharp, Gregory Porter, Third Eye Blind, Roy Ayers, The Human Experience, David Grisman, Chicago, Lyrics Born, Macy Gray, The Monophonics, DJ Qbert, Deltron, Liz Phair, Zion-I, Chali 2na and more, and you can hear her & William Cenote's composition Lumos in the pioneers of vertical aerial dance, Bandaloop's, 2020/2021 and 2023/2024 seasons.

Highlights of her performance career include appearances at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Super Bowl XLIX, Montreal Jazz Festival, Playboy Jazz Festival, Beijing’s Spring Festival, and a collaboration with dancers Lil Buck & Jon Boogz for an audience of 10,000 people at Despertares in Guadalajara Mexico.

"Most definitely a hit-woman, she can hit you from all directions. Shaina is that brand of fiercely independent and original, artist, athlete, activist, collaborator & innovator that makes The Bay what it is. Don't sleep, if you do, Shaina will wake you up!"

-Rickey Vincent, author, historian & radio host

"What’s uncommon about Evoniuk, in addition to her fierce musicianship, is her ability to elevate a vast array of musical settings by expanding an artist’s sound with the canny integration of strings"

-Andrew Gilbert, East Bay Times

About.

"An indispensable force on the Bay Area music scene"

​

-Andrew Gilbert, East Bay Times

"Most definitely a hit-woman, she can hit you from all directions. Shaina is that brand of fiercely independent and original, artist, athlete, activist, collaborator & innovator that makes The Bay what it is. Don't sleep, if you do, Shaina will wake you up!"

​

-Rickey Vincent, author, historian & radio host

​

"What’s uncommon about Evoniuk, in addition to her fierce musicianship, is her ability to elevate a vast array of musical settings by expanding an artist’s sound with the canny integration of strings"

​

-Andrew Gilbert, East Bay Times

​