Vita

First prize-winner of the ‘Jugend musiziert’ competition, finalist at the Clara-Haskil Competition in Vevey/Switzerland, and prize-winner at the Gian Battista Viotti International Music Competition in Vercelli (Italy): Julia Bartha achieved the leap on to major podiums of the German-speaking and wider international world at an early age. She has appeared at numerous festivals including the Schleswig Holstein Musikfestival, the Niedersächsische Musiktage, the Göttingen International Handel Festival, the Fringe Festival Dublin/Ireland, Carrick Water Music Festival Carrick/Ireland, the Salon des Arts Festival, Sofia/Bulgaria, and the Gaia-Kammermusikfestival, Thun/Switzerland. As soloist she has performed under conductors including Nicholas McGegan, Gabriel Feltz and Saulius Sondeckis, for example, with orchestras such as the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, the Heidelberger Sinfoniker, Cappella Istropolitana and Camerata St. Petersburg.

Julia Bartha’s unique profile as a concert pianist is highlighted by the refreshingly unconventional ways in which she bridges the gap between different forms of artistic expression. Standing at the centre of her activities alongside her classical concert work, which embraces the full repertoire for the piano from Baroque to contemporary, are innovative projects realised in cooperation with artists from the worlds of literature, theatre and the visual arts, and with musicians from a host of diverse genres. Among these are concert readings with actors such as Cornelia Froboess, Rainer Piwek, Ingrid Andree, Hanns Zischler, Heikko Deutschmann and Julia Hansen, and art and video installations in productions combining music, text and image in interaction. In 2005 she formed the Blue Chamber Quartet, an ensemble dedicated to crossing the borders between jazz and contemporary music. The ensemble’s 2007 debut SACD released on the ‘stockfisch records’ label received enthusiastic reviews in Germany and the USA. In December 2009 a second CD appeared on the same label with arrangements of the 20 Children’s Songs by American jazz pianist Chick Corea. Complementing these are 20 text miniatures by author Cathrin Kahlweit, an editor of the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Julia Bartha is co-founder and pianist of the Ensemble Inter Pares, a group engaging with contemporary composition and staged events. In March 2010 the Ensemble made its debut at the Paul Klee Zentrum in Berne/Switzerland with the world premiere of the monodrama Paul Klee Splitter by the composer Thorsten Encke from Hannover. In September 2010, Julia Bartha travelled on the invitation of Bennington College to Vermont/USA, where she gave the first performance of the 4th Sonata for Piano by American composer Allen Shawn. Julia Bartha is the Sonata’s dedicatee.

Julia Bartha completed her artistic training with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, emerging from the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media with the Concert Diploma. She found further artistic inspiration at the Konservatorium in Zurich working with Homero Francesch, and at master classes with John O’Conor, Igor Ozim and Dmitri Bashkirov. From 1994 to 1999, Julia Bartha held a scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation and in 1994 she was awarded a prize by the Marie-Luise Imbusch Foundation, Lübeck. In 2000 her name was placed on the list of especially highly recommended young artists issued by the German Music Council. Since 2009, Julia Bartha has been teaching her instrument at the Leipzig Music College. She lives with her husband and two daughters in the central German city of Göttingen.