Biography
Val Vigoda is an award-winning songwriter, electric violinist, singer, theatre creator, and former U.S. Army lieutenant whose wildly unconventional career spans rock tours, New York theatre, Disney, and transformative keynote concerts.
She has toured the world with artists including Cyndi Lauper, Joe Jackson, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and opened for luminaries such as Michelle Obama, Magic Johnson, and Sting.
A creative force on and off the stage, Val founded the cult-favorite indie band GrooveLily and has co-written and starred in multiple acclaimed musicals produced in New York and beyond, including STRIKING 12, SLEEPING BEAUTY WAKES, and ERNEST SHACKLETON LOVES ME. Her songwriting credits span Off-Broadway and regional theatre, film, live events, and commissioned projects, including extensive work for Disney, where she helped reimagine TOY STORY as a stage musical and co-wrote more than 20 original songs for films, parks, attractions, and shows worldwide.
Her work has earned honors including the Jonathan Larson Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre, the ASCAP Richard Rodgers Award, the LA Ovation Award for Best Musical, and the Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Musical.
An honors graduate of Princeton, Val is also a passionate educator who has taught masterclasses at Stanford, Berklee College of Music, Emerson, and the University of Washington.
Today, she brings her one-of-a-kind combination of story, song, electric violin, and hard-won perspective to keynote concerts on stages across the country. Drawing on a life spent moving between seemingly opposite worlds—soldier and artist, discipline and improvisation, precision and play—Val uses music and storytelling to spark resilience, creativity, connection, courage, and joy, helping people come more vividly alive.
She lives in Los Angeles with her son Mose, with whom she makes epic—and truly terrible—rap battles while washing dishes.
“Valerie Vigoda unleashes a diva-worthy torrent of passion ...”
—The Washington Post
“Val Vigoda is a fiddling firecracker.”
—The Huffington Post
“Valerie Vigoda is truly amazing, an awesome vision of embodied musicality, moving as one with her violin, making it sing and singing with it in a voice both smoky and angelic. Anyone in town who plays violin ought to see her – sheʼs the future.”
—Palo Alto Weekly
“To call Valerie Vigoda talented barely seems to do her justice. She has a great voice, is an intelligent lyricist ...and is an ace violinist. Methinks we’ll hear more of her.”
—Dirty Linen Magazine
“Vigoda is ... (an) enormously talented front-woman, with superb chops on electric violin, a sweet and powerful singing voice and a warm, inviting stage presence.”
—North County Times
“Valerie Vigoda is an electric violinist extraordinaire. Concert halls would yearn for the breathtaking notes she evokes from her instrument...and on top of all that...[her] supple voice has a melodious silkiness that's rich in depth and timbre.”
—DC Theatre Scene
“Valerie Vigoda is especially sexy on the electric violin.”
—Theatermania
“Val Vigoda is heroic.”
—Lighting and Sound America