Esprit Orchestra will be premiering Julia Mermelstein's new commissioned work, Floral Reef, as part of their third concert "Carrot Revolution" at their 2025 International Festival. The program will feature a premiere by Roydon Tse and chamber works by Gabriella Smith, Mark Duggan, John Rea, Ivan Trevino, and Keiko Abe.
ECMA Nomination: Classical Composer of the Year
I'm so thrilled to announce my nomination for Classical Composer of the Year for the 2025 East Coast Music Awards! It's extra special that it's for my piece, Bending, breaking through, that was commissioned by and performed by the amazing India Gailey.
Julia spoke with Viktor Lazarov from La Scena Musicale about her upcoming premiere of her chamber orchestra piece, Floral Reef with Esprit Orchestra on April 2, 2025. The article features interviews with Steve Reich, Vito Žuraj, and James O’Callaghan about their collaborations with the orchestra as well.
India Gailey will be performing Julia Mermelstein's solo cello + live electronics piece, Bending, breaking through, as part of Ottawa New Music Creators Ottawa New Music Festival 2024. India will be performing a selection of works from their latest album, Problematica along with other performances by percussionist David Brongo and harpist Michelle Gott.
What Brings You In Premiere at Ottawa Chamberfest
Leslie Ting’s “What Brings You In” is an autobiographical, confessional concert with interactive sound installation. Based on interview research and personal experiences with talk therapy, hypnotherapy, dreamwork, sandplay, somatics, and reiki, “What Brings You In” is an exploration, through a series of new music compositions, of when and where our truest selves emerge. This installation/concert invites audiences inward to discover more about themselves through listening, while asking “what brings you in?” to live performance gathering in a communal space. What might we discover together?
Jana Luksts, shares the stage with Adam Sherkin in two solo sets that celebrate New York-based composers from CUNY's composition faculty featuring Jason Eckhardt, Jeff Nichols and Phyllis Chen and Canadian composers Julia Mermelstein and Keiko Devaux.
Alkali Collective will premiere Julia Mermelstein’s piece, Mixed Foliage, for mixed octet, live electronics & movement, commissioned by and composed for Alkali with support from Arts Nova Scotia & Canada Council for the Arts. They will also perform Julia’s piece spora, for soprano, cello, percussion, and electronics sung by mezzo-soprano Megan Johnson alongside works by Keiko Devaux, Sophie Dupuis, Erin Gee and Emilie LeBel.
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Gimeno will premiere Julia Mermelstein’s piece, Ray trace, commissioned and composed for the TSO as part of their 2024 NextGen composer program.
I'm very excited to say that my piece folds in crossings for solo violin and electronics is now released as part of violinist and interdisciplinary artist Leslie Ting’s debut album What Brings You In on People Places Records as both stereo and binaural recordings!
I'm so excited to share that cellist/composer, India Gailey has released her album Problematica on People Places Records that includes a piece I wrote for India and this album project called "Bending, breaking through" for solo cello + live electronics.
Musician India Gailey commissioned seven new works for solo cello by Sarah Rossy, Nicole Lizée, Fjóla Evans Joseph Glaser, Thanya Ayer, Andrew Noseworthy, and Julia Mermelstein as part of an album project titled « Problematica. »
Cellist Norm Adams, and pianist Barbara Pritchard converse with guests from the world of contemporary art music, exploring fascinating ideas and demystifying the wild and wonderful music. In their July episode, they spoke with Julia Mermelstein about her music.
Interdisciplinary percussionists, Duo Cichorium, present their self-curated concert, Elemental, centering on themes of connection to oneself, to each other, to technology, and to nature. The duo will perform Julia Mermelstein's out of grains, within clouds alongside works by Nolan Hildebrand, Pauline Oliveros, and Jaz Tsui and Louis Pino.
New Wave 2 features the world premiere of Julia Mermelstein's between walls for chamber orchestra and fixed electronics, a new work by Stephanie Orlando, Misato Mochizuki’s Chimera, and the Canadian Premiere of Julius Eastman’s Gay Guerrilla, in an arrangement for string septet by fellow American Jessie Montgomery.
Video of "in water suspended"
Back in 2021, Esprit Orchestra recorded my piece in water suspended in collaboration with visual artist Moira Ness and I'm so excited to finally share this recording. It was amazing to be able to collaborate with Esprit on this commission and to get to work with Moira and bring another layer to the piece.
I'm thrilled to announce that I'll be writing a new piece for the TSO a part of their NextGen Composer program to be premiered in their 2023-24 season. I'm very excited to get to work with Gustavo Gimeno and Alison Yun-Fei Jiang and to write a 2nd piece for the orchestra.
Recording session for "spora"
It's been awhile in the making but finally the 2021 ASCP (Art Song Collaborative Project) was able to happen this year! My piece "spora" for soprano, cello, and percussion was composed for this project's Terra's Resurgence Opera back in 2021 and it was amazing to finally hear it performed by Gwenna Fairchild-Taylor (sop), Joel Tangjerd (vc), and Joyce To (perc). The piece will be released as part of a video series on YouTube later this fall.
What Brings You In is an interactive multimedia performance by Leslie Ting featuring percussionist Germaine Liu, music by Linda Catlin Smith, two commissioned electroacoustic pieces by Rose Bolton and Julia Mermelstein, and binaural sound design by Matt Smith (Prince Nifty). This music-driven project explores the many ways we engage in the therapeutic process based on interview research, and personal experiences with talk therapy, hypnotherapy, dreamwork, sandplay, somatics, and reiki.
What Brings You In is being presented as part of the SummerWorks Lab from your personal device either at home, or with others at the venue.
Din of Shadow’s sixth production is an ode to the human voice in its many forms: singing, speaking, screaming, whispering, and noise-making; live, pre-recorded, natural, and processed. The voice is presented alone, and in collaboration with instruments, electronics, dance, and video projection.
Rehearsal + film stills for "A frame through bodies move"
Been working on a new multimedia piece, "A frame through bodies move" for solo voice + electronics in collaboration with Angela Blumberg. It's been such an amazing project to collaborate on and to get to work with soprano, Stacie Dunlop, dancers Sarah Di Iorio, Taylor Collis, and videographer Sue Howard. So excited to be premiering this piece on June 18 with Din of Shadows' Din VI: Mortal Chorus at the Music Gallery.
The TSO conducted by Music Director Gustavo Gimeno performs the entire ballet of Stravinsky’s The Firebird with back-to-back world premières from Canadian composers. First, a prelude by Julia Mermelstein, written in celebration of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s 100th season; then, music of “riotously inventive” (The New Yorker) composer Zosha Di Castri, featuring incomparable Canadian soprano and contemporary-music icon Barbara Hannigan.
Premiere of "in water suspended" for orchestra commissioned by Esprit Orchestra with generous support by the Ontario Arts Council. The concert will include premieres by Stephanie Orlando and Christina Volpini as well as performing Claude Vivier's "Orion" with video projections created by artist Moira Ness.
Arraymusic’s annual premiers concert returns after a COVID-enforced hiatus! This year’s event features an exciting set of new works created for the expert players of the Array Ensemble by acclaimed composers from Ontario and abroad. Colleen Cook will be premiering "Capsule", commissioned by Arraymusic for this concert alongside works by John Sherlock, Amahl Arulanandam, Bruce A. Russell, Seung-Won Oh, and Oscar Bettison. It will be a a pre-recorded online webcast.
Julia is a featured guest on the Flute 360 Podcast hosted by Heidi Kay Begay. This episode is in collaboration with the Association of Canadian Women Composers and the Scarborough Philharmonic's Flute Music By Women Composers International Festival.
Esprit Orchestra Recording Session
Earlier this year, I composed a new piece for Esprit Orchestra, "in water suspended" with support from the Ontario Arts Council. This past week I had the chance to rehearse and record it for an exciting upcoming collaboration! It has been almost two years since I heard live music or was even in the same room rehearsing with musicians, so thankful for this opportunity.
Alkali Collective will give the world premiere of unform for melodica, toy piano and piano a part of their concert, SHIFT at The Music Room. Other works on the program include pieces by inti figgis-vizueta, Brittany J. Green, Paige Halliwell, Yaz Lancsater, Bekah Simms and Cassie Wieland. This concert will be in-person as well as live-streamed.
Featured on Score Follower
Really excited to have threaded to be bound/unbound for solo double and electronics featured on ScoreFollower, performed by Adam Scime and commissioned by Caution Tape Sound Collective!
Only edges is one of three winning pieces from Impulse New Music Festival's International Call for Scores. It will be performed at INMF's closing concert by pianist Aron Kallay through an online video broadcast. The program will also include the other two winning pieces by composers Anuj Bhutani and Jose E. Hernandez. Check out the streaming link above.
Commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra to write a prelude for their 100th Season Celebration. The piece will be premiered on the Gimeno + Hannigan concert on May 19, 2022.
Field Recordings
I was able to get out of the city for a bit and captured some new sounds from this beautiful marshland. The place was filled with blackbirds, syncopated bird calls, gentle winds.
Julia is a featured guest on WSMR's radio show, Modern Notebook, hosted by Tyler Kline at 8pm EST. An online streaming version will be available after the broadcast.
Vancouver-based guitarist Adrian Verdejo performs an online full-length concert of works for solo guitar including Julia's Falling (into the unknown). The concert includes works by Wolf Edwards, Peter Hannan, Diego Lozano Verduzco, and Rodney Sharman. The concert will be available for streaming from Feb.20-28th.
USF New Music Consortium Call for Scores Winner
threaded to be bound/unbound was the winning electroacoustic work in USF New Music Consortium's 2021 International Call for Scores, chosen from over 400 submissions worldwide. The piece will be performed by Paul Lewis on their April 9 online concert.
In this special episode of Esprit's ongoing Soundbite & Soundbite Insights series, Eugene Astapov sits down with Julia to talk about her artistic processes and philosophies, and what she is currently working on for Esprit. Her upcoming Esprit commission will be premiered as part of their New Wave Festival.
inner forms will be presented at the University of Pittsburg’s Music and Movement Virtual Conference a part of their video performance presentations. More info about the time and schedule will be available soon.
Contemporary Classics, hosted by Dave Lake is a show featuring concert music exclusively by 20th and 21st Century Composers. This interview was conducted at the 2020 Winnipeg New Music Festival in January, 2020.
Received the Trudi Le Caine Award in Electroactoustics for her piece wonted a part of GroundSwell’s 2020 Emerging Composers Competition. GroundSwell’s biennial Emerging Composers Competition was open to Canadian composers under 30 years of age and is for electroacoustic pieces composed between 2015 and 2020.
One of five finalists in GroundSwell’s biennial Emerging Composers Competition for electroacoustic pieces by Canadian composers. wonted is one of the chosen works, featured in GroundSwell’s Finalist Video.
wonted will have its UK premiere programmed in the inaugural Nottingham New Music Festival's Marathon Concert. This concert will be livestreamed and available online.
Pianists, Wesley Shen, Megan Thibeault, and Adam Sherkin perform IMPRINT as part of their live stream concert series.
IMPRINT was selected to be performed in ICOT's piano miniature concert series by pianists Wesley Shen, Megan Thibeault, and Adam Sherkin, to be livestreamed in July.
Pianist Francesca Hurst performs IMPRINT on her Daily Dose of Piano Series.
"To us, Sunder was thoughtful and poised music; it has great craft when it comes to using resonance, and its sparse sounds are always placed just so—giving a sense of weight and depth that can be so rare for flute and piano music.” — Duo Axis
Julia spoke with host (and ADJ•ective New Music Composers' Collective Member) Rob McClure about her music as a featured guest.
What Brings You In Workshop
Before COVID was in full effect, we held our first workshop to begin to piece together Leslie Ting’s inter-arts production, What Brings You In. I had been working on this piece on my own with occasional rehearsals with Leslie, but this was the chance for all involved collaborators to see how each of our parts would fit together. It was also the chance to begin working on the electronics spatialization across six speakers with sound designers Deanna Choi and William Fallon. This piece has been the first where I’ve ventured out of stereo diffused electronics, so this was super exciting to dive into. It was an amazing packed week of exploration, discovery, and critique with the whole team, such an inspiring group of artists to be collaborating with. There are some pretty cool things in store for the project moving forward and can’t wait to share more about it. link:
What Brings You In Rehearsals
Started putting together the electronics yesterday with Leslie Ting for a new piece I composed for Leslie's inter-arts work What Brings You In. A huge thank you to the Ontario Arts Council - Conseil des arts de l'Ontario for supporting the creation of this piece and the Canadian Music Centre for hosting us!
Performing Falling apart of India Yeshe’s Touring Concert Series.
WNMF 2020 Composers Institute
This past week at the Winnipeg New Music Festival's Composers Institute has been an amazing experience! I’ve met and gotten to know such wonderful people throughout the festival, attend inspiring concerts, rehearsals, and masterclasses with composers Sarah Kirkland Snider, Michael Daugherty, Jared Miller, and Harry Stafylakis. A big thank you to the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Julian Pellicano for such a beautiful performance of my piece “in turn” on Monday along with works by Matthew-John Knights, Liam Ross Gibson, Mackenzie Carroll, Matthew Emery, and Simon Grégorcic, it has been a really special week!
Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra will premiere in turn at the Winnipeg New Music Festival conducted by Associate Conductor Julian Pellicano.
Barbara Pritchard premieres “IMPRINT” a part of her Variations Project at the 2020 Open Waters Festival.
Barbara Pritchard’s Variations Project
After my 2018 collaboration with Barbara Pritchard, she asked me whether I'd like to contribute a 1-minute piano solo to her Variations Project: a collection of over 60 Canadian works that has spanned 28 years. In November, I finally had the opportunity to write this piece, resulting in my miniature Imprint. I had the chance to have a little rehearsal over the holidays with Barbara before she premieres it in January in Halifax.
Selected participant in the 2020 Winnipeg New Music Festival's Composers Institute: an intensive week of workshops, panel discussions, lessons, resulting in a premiere by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra at the Winnipeg New Music Festival.
Adam Scime premieres “threaded to be bound/unbound” presented by Caution Tape Sound Collective.
New inter-arts collaboration
I've been working on a new solo violin and electronics piece for Leslie Ting's new inter-arts performance work, What Brings You In Today that explores how we need each other to know ourselves better. The work includes performers Leslie, Germaine Liu, video artist Elysha Poirier, co-sound designers William Fallon, Deanna Choi, lighting designer Patrick Lavender and music by Linda Catlin Smith and another commissioned piece by Rose Bolton. I'm particularly excited to be able to work with surround sound for this piece and to explore multi-speaker diffusion (which will be a first for me!). I'm really looking forward to our first workshops in early March 2020. In the meantime, Leslie is raising funds through a Kickstarter Campaign. Please consider supporting this amazing project!!
Andrew Noseworthy performs Falling at The 21st Century Guitar Conference: Gala Concert #1 - Canadian Music Marathon.
Premiere of inner forms for solo violin, electronics, and movement a part of Ilana’s solo project “Filament:” a collaborative concert featuring five world premieres for violin and electronics, co-presented by Arraymusic.
New solo violin piece for Ilana Waniuk
I've been workshopping and rehearsing my new piece inner forms that Ilana Waniuk commissioned for an upcoming solo violin project. The piece incorporates choreography, a vintage radio, and electronics that’s a continuation of my work in exploring movement with musicians. Composing this piece for Ilana Waniuk has been a really meaningful project and collaboration and has become an important work for me, diving deeper into collaboration with choreography.
US premiere of Shift performed by North/South Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Max Liftchitz.
Shift was a selected to be performed by North/South Chamber Orchestra in their 2018-19 season in New York City, NY.
La Fiammata Piano Duo premieres density swells upclose in breath.
La Fiammata Piano Duo collaboration
I've been working on a new piece, density swells upclose in breath for La Fiammata Piano Duo this year and will be premiered on May 31st at Mazzoleni Hall in Toronto! It's been such a wonderful experience getting to work closely with Linda and Charissa in composing this piece for them. We got the chance to have several workshops where we tried different aleatoric structures, even recorded their heart rates to incorporate into the rhythmic structures of the piece. This was was generously supported by a Commissioning Grant from the Ontario Arts Council.
Premiere of out of grains, within clouds at the Music Gallery’s Emergence Concert Series in collaboration with Din of Shadows.
out of grains, within clouds rehearsal
We've been rehearsing my piece out of grains, within clouds, focusing on putting together the choreography with live music at this point. So excited to be working with Quinn Jacobs of Din of Shadows again and to have such amazing and inspiring collaborators: Louis Pino, Jonny Smith, Angela Blumberg, and Ming-Bo Lam! The piece will be premiered with Din of Shadows' Material Mythology concert at the Music Gallery in May.
US acousmatic premiere of wonted at the 2019 CEMIcircles Festival 2020.
TSO's Explore the Score reading session
It was an amazing experience to participate in the Explore the Score Reading Session and hear my piece in turn played by this orchestra. I’m so grateful to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Canadian Music Centre for this initiative! Thank you!
Toronto Symphony Orchestra workshops in turn, as part of their Explore the Score session conducted by Gary Kulesha.
Julia was one of five chosen from other emerging composers across Canada, including Sean Clarke (Ottawa), Keiko Devaux (Montreal), Kathryn Knowles (Toronto), and Scott Ross-Molyneux (Calgary) to participate in the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Reading Session.
Julia was a finalist in Delirium Musicum’s 2018-19 Call for Scores for her piece Shift.
XIV recording session
Had a little recording session today of my voice and electronics piece, XIV with the amazing Clarisse Tonigussi! The recording will be posted soon. In the meantime, you can check out our recent performance of the piece earlier in October.
Windermere String Quartet performs Echoes of Illumina which was originally composed for the quartet back in 2015.
Barbara Pritchard will be premiering Only Edges for solo piano and fixed electronics a part of her touring program, Playing with Fire.
Clarisse Tonigussi performs XIV as part of the Canadian Women Composers Project concert, Seeing Sound: Where Music and Visual Art Meet.
Workshop session in Ottawa
I've been spending the last couple days in Ottawa workshopping a new collaborative dance piece with choreographer/dancer Sarah Hopkin for interactive electronics, three dancers, and projections to be performed in Ottawa with the Movement Gallery. It's been an intense and inspiring couple of days solidifying our ideas and adjusting and tweaking the tech, venturing into some interesting ways movement can directly influence the music.
drifting, vividly choreography rehearsal
Here's some rehearsal footage for my new piece drifting, vividly to be premiered on May 5th! (Rehearsal of Angela Blumberg and Ming-Bo Lam).
Premiere of drifting, vividly presented and commissioned by Din of Shadows, with choreography by Angela Blumberg. To be performed by Olivia Shortt, Emilie Gelinas-Noble, Jonny Smith, Marketa Ornova, Angela Blumberg, and Ming-Bo Lam.
Din of Shadows II rehearsal
Had a nice long rehearsal going through choreography ideas with musicians Emilie Gelinas-Noble, Olivia Shortt, and Jonny Smith for my new piece for Din of Shadows.
Acousmatic premiere of wonted at the Spark to Stone Concert co-presented by Caution Tape Sound Collective and the Association of Canadian Women Composers.
wonted was selected to be performed at Caution Tape’s spring 2018 concert co-presented with the Association of Canadian Women Composers.
wonted II-III placed third in Musicworks' 2017 International Electronic Music Competition and had a featured article about the piece on their online magazine.
in turn placed 2nd in the Etobicoke Philharmonic Orchestra's 2018 Young Composers Competition.
Evan Bowen premieres Woven, Still for multi-percussion, electronics, and movement with Caution Tape Sound Collective.
A selected finalist in Symphony Number One’s International Call for Scores 4.
Julia was featured on this week’s show on Pulsar CISM presented by Alexandre David with works by composers Meng Wang and Lasse Thoresen.
New electronic work
We had our last EQ session last week and what an inspiring 5 months it’s been! I’ve met such a great group of artists and learned so much about how to approach electronics in my compositional practice from Rose Bolton and the other participants. I hope this program continues on to keep building a foundation for women in electronics. Throughout the workshop, I’ve been composing a series of electronic pieces that are finally finished! This has been new territory for me, composing solely in this medium and it’s been an eye- opening process from start to finish.
The Movement Gallery presents RE:connect
RE:connect will be performed in collaboration with The Movement Gallery, to be performed by Kathleen Legassick (dancer), Olivia Shortt (saxophone), and Julia Mermelstein (electronics).
into a landscape, unrest will be premiered at Caution Tape Sound Collective’s Quintile concert, alongside works by Patrick Arteaga, James Lowrie, August Murphy-King, and Andrew Noseworthy.
Julia will be joining WRCMS’ inaugural summer workshop, Waterloo Region Contemporary Music Sessions, in Waterloo, Ontario in the role of Composition Mentor.
Blue Rider Ensemble premieres without ground a part of their touring program, Blue Elements.
Participant in the EQ Program
Chosen participant in the 2nd edition of EQ: Women in Electronic Music program, hosted by the Canadian Music Centre. The workshop is facilitated by composer and sound artist Rose Bolton, focusing on mentorship and community building among women who create electronic music.
Soprano Adanya Dunn and Zach Clark premiere XIV for solo voice and live electronics, a part of Music Reflecta's Opus Testing workshop performance.
RE:connect will gets its second performance at FOOT (Festival of Original Theatre) performed by Olivia Shortt and Kathleen Legassick.
New work for Blue Rider Ensemble
I’ve begun to work on a new piece for Blue Rider Ensemble to be performed in the winter of 2017. The ensemble comprises of flute, Liselyn Adams, cello, Paul Pulford, and percussion, Beverly Johnston. It’s an exciting project to take part in and I’m looking forward to get the chance to workshop the piece with the ensemble in the fall.
Arraymusic's 2016 Young Composers Workshop
I feel so fortunate to have spent the month working with the incredible Arraymusic musicians, Stephen Clarke, Collean Cooke, David Schotzko, and Stephen Sitarski and learning from mentor composer Christopher Butterfield. My piece Impressioned will be premiered alongside amazing pieces by Adam Filaber, Bekah Ann Simms, and Thomas Weideman at the closing concert.
Future Lab: Arraymusic’s YCW
The Array Ensemble premiere’s Impression, concluding the Young Composers Workshop with new works by Adam Filaber, Bekah Simms, and Thomas Weideman.
RE:connect premiere
Olivia Shortt and Kathleen Legassick premiere RE:connect along with a works-in-progress showings by dancers Amanda Pye and Jane Alison McKinney.
RE:connect: a new dance collaboration
RE:connect is a dance piece that I’ve been collaborating on for the past 4 months and it’s being performed next weekend at Dancemakers. It’s been a wonderful project to work on and I’m very lucky to have collaborated with amazing dancers Sarah Hopkin, Kathleen Legassick and musician Olivia Shortt. We’ve been experimenting on how interconnected musician and dancer can be in the same performance space, how the music can have equal weight with the choreography.
Dance creation: rehearsal clips
Rehearsals are in progress for a new dance collaboration with choreographer Sarah Hopkin and dancer Kathleen Legassick. The music will be scored for electronics and baritone sax to be performed by Olivia Shortt. Here are some short clips of some of our music and movement experiments!
Concours Accés Arkea
Felt very fortunate to be a finalist in Ensemble Arkea’s Concours Accés Arkea and to have composed a new work for the ensemble. Such a wonderful experience to take part in the competition and get to work with an amazing ensemble and conductor, Dina Gilbert.
Ensemble Arkea Performance
Ensemble Arkea premieres Shift conducted by Dina Gilbert a part of their 4ém Concours Accés Arkea.
Selected finalist in Ensemble Arkea’s Concours Accés Arkea to compose a new work for string orchestra that will be presented at Chapelle Historique du Bon-Pasteur in Montréal.
TBA III with Toy Piano Composers Ensemble
The Toy Piano Composers Ensemble premieres Cycle Scope at their TO BE ANNOUNCED III composer showcase in partnership with The Music Gallery.
Windermere String Quartet premieres Echoes of Illumina as part of a concert that celebrates music composed by women then and now.