Julie Spencer - Profile

Composer, Musician: Marimba, Vibraphone, Percussion, Voice

The exceptional American artist and internationally renowned marimba virtuoso Julie Spencer enchants with her unusual instruments, her profoundly personal singing style, and her unmistakable musicality, creating new music through the harmonizing confluence of composition and performance.

Her cross-stylistic work is comprised of improvisatory sound collages, jazz compositions, world music cross-over as well as contemporary scores for solo marimba, chamber ensembles, choirs and orchestras. Her trail-blazing, individualistic playing technique is unique and expressive.

Music is an expression of the soul, mediated through a language of the intellect, made possible by an openness of the heart, its substance and meaning perpetually redefined in the context of personal experience and collective consciousness. While deriving strength from the conflicts and sorrows of our lives, I hope in the creation of music to be a voice for love and joy in the world. Julie Spencer

Julie Spencer - press voices

„Extraordinary artist” Klaus Mümpfer, www.jazzpages.de
„Wonderful music” Joachim Ernst Berendt, Author & Jazz Critic
„Julie Spencer is a remarkably talented performer, with that rare combination of technical virtuosity and creative musical insight” Bob Becker, Nexus
„From exuberant to serene, always enlightening” Drum Magazine
„Julie Spencer represents and advocates all that constitutes inspired, musical excellence and exquisite performances.” Cloyd Duff, former Cleveland Orchestra Timpanist
„Spencer’s performance is a stunning show that equals that of the greatest piano virtuosos. She pushes back the limits of difficulty with amazing dexterity.” La Montaigne, France
„A major new voice who displays true brilliance of mind, spirit, and soul” JazzTimes
„Spencer is destined to be known as an innovator for the marimba in the tradition of performers like Abe, Stout, and Leigh Stevens.” John Beck as quoted in Modern Drummer by Patrick Wilson
„A wonderful and diverse artist” Perqsja, Poland
„An important figure as a composer and performer of music for the marimba” Modern Drummer, USA
„Creative genius” Percussive Notes, USA

Julie Spencer - resume

Musician and composer Julie Spencer is internationally known as a virtuoso artist on her main instrument, the marimba. Her work encompasses a concerto for marimba and percussion ensemble commissioned by the Japan Percussion Society, a choral work for the Oregon Repertory Singers, as well as numerous scores for solos, ensembles, and orchestras.

She appeared in countless concerts in Europe, North America, and Japan. Amongst other prizes she was awarded fellowship of the American National Endowments for the Arts, the national arts trust of the United States. She earned a Bachelor of Music diploma and the award „Performer’s Certificate from the famous American conservatory „Eastman School of Music”, and another diploma (Master of Fine Arts) from the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles.

Following her studies she taught from 1990 until 1994 at the California Institute of the Arts and from 1995 bis 1998 at the University of Michigan. From 1998 until 2003 she resided in Portland, Oregon, where she worked as a freelance percussionist with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra. Since 2003 she lives in Bingenb on the rhine, Germany, together with her husband Gernot Blume, and their two children, Avi Béla and Amienne Monet.

So far ten different cds have been created under her name, and in collaboration with Gernot Blume:

" Incantation" (2009), "Jetzt Wohin?" (2007), "Out of the Stillness" (2006), "Colors of the Soul" (2006), "Griot" (2006), "Ecstatic Sunlight" (2005), "Harp Travels" (2004), "Lost and Found" (2000), "Changes Inside" (1995), "Ask" (1992) and a Live-Concert video "Common Ground" (1994).

She has been invited repeatedly to the international conventions of the Percussive Arts Society and her marimba repertoire, played by percussionists all over the world, has been published since 1993 by her own label, Spencer Blume Publishing.

Starting in 2007, her collected works are published and distributed by Norsk Musikkforlag in Oslo, Norway.

Julie Spencer - timeline

2007
General contract for the publication of collected works with Norsk Musikkforlag, Oslo, Norway
CD “Jetzt Wohin?” – New Songs to poems by Heinrich Heine, commissioned by the Culture Foundation of the Landkreis Mainz-Bingen, Germany
Premiere Concert, World Music ensemble “Asavari” Bingen, Germany
2006
CD "Out of the Stillness", compositions to the visions of Hildegard von Bingen, commissioned by the city of Bingen, Germany
CD "Colors of the Soul", Classical Ragas of North India
Premiere of Waterfalls, Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra, Warsaw, Poland
Concerts / Workshops, Crossdrumming Festival, Warsaw, Poland
Feature Interview, Perqsja, Percussion Journal, Poland
Concert of Music for solo marimba by Julie Spencer, presented by Marimbist Marumi Akita, Hakuju Hall, Tokyo, Japan
2005
CD "Ecstatic Sunlight", Music for Marimba
2004
Cover Story, Japan Percussion Center Magazine, Tokyo, Japan
2004 Commission by the Japan Percussion Society with premiere concerts for the Japan Percussion Festival, with ensembles in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka
2003
moves to Germany, freelance work
Subject of doctoral thesis entitled "The Grateful Marimbist – Spencer Technique and the Marimba Music of Julie Spencer", by Eric Middleton, University of Texas at Austin
2002
premieres of compositions for Ensemble Colored Fish, Lewis & Clark College, Oregon, USA
"Kassandra" – Mixed Choir, commissioned by the Oregon Repertory Singers, Portland, USA
2001
premiere of "Soulhouse Weep", for Percussion Quintet, Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, USA
performance at the Princeton Marimba Festival, Princeton University, USA, with Gernot Blume
1998 - 2003
performances as percussionist among others with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Ballet Orchestra, Third Angle New Music Ensemble, and Portland Opera Orchestra, USA
2000
CD "Lost and Found" with Gernot Blume, Ensemble "Colored Fish"
Publication of "The Unbooks" Collections of Short Compositions for Improvisation, with Gernot Blume
1998
performance at the Keyboard Mallet Festival, Berklee College of Music, Boston, USA, with Gernot Blume
Guest Composer for Composers‘ Forum, University of North Texas, All the Arts Festival
1995 - 1998
adjunct faculty for marimba, University of Michigan, USA
1995
CD "Changes Inside" with Gernot Blume
1994
Video: Ensemble "Common Ground", concert at the international conference of the Percussive Arts Society, Atlanta, USA
Marimba soloist with the Glendale Symphony Orchestra under direction of Lalo Schifrin, Dorothy Chandler Pavillion, Los Angeles, USA
National Endowment for the Arts, fellowship in Jazz composition, USA
1990 - 1994
Adjunct faculty for marimba, California Institute of the Arts, USA
1992
CD: "Ask", Music by Julie Spencer, Interworld Music, USA
Premiere of Compositions for Ensemble Colored Fish, Japan American Theatre, Los Angeles, for the L.A. Philharmonic Green Umbrella Series
1991
Premiere of Compositions for World Music Ensemble and solo Marimba, international conference of the Percussive Arts Society, Los Angeles, USA
1990
Premieres of Compositions for large Jazz Ensemble, International Association of Jazz Educators Convention, New Orleans, USA
Master of Fine Arts Diploma, (Jazz composition, World Music) California Institute of the Arts, USA
1987
Performances/Workshops at Academie de Percussion, Saint Sauves, France
1986
Performer’s Certificate, Eastman School of Music, Rochester, USA
Premiere Performances of works for Solo Marimba, international conference of the Percussive Arts Society, Washington D.C., USA
Performances/Workshops, University of Toronto, Canada
1985
Premiere Performances of works for Solo Marimba, international conference of the Percussive Arts Society, Los Angeles
1985 Workshops at the Eastman School, Indiana University, California Institute of the Arts, University of Michigan, and a residency at the University of Arizona, Tucson
1985 Bachelor of Music, (Percussion), Eastman School of Music, Rochester, USA