Julia Den Boer

Biography

French American pianist Julia Den Boer is a passionate advocate for contemporary music, praised for her "emotional power" (The New York Times) and "cleverly contrasted" (The Guardian) programming. Based in New York City, she is internationally recognized as a soloist and chamber musician and is an active commissioner of new works, committed to exploring and broadening her instrument's boundaries through close collaboration with composers.

Julia joined the acclaimed piano percussion quartet Yarn/Wire in 2021, she has recently performed at the Donaueschingen Festival, the Bergen International Festival, the TimeSpans Festival and the Festival d'Automne. In addition to her work with Yarn/Wire Julia has performed with Longleash, the International Contemporary Ensemble, Wavefield Ensemble and Wet Ink amongst other new music groups.

Her recordings can be heard on the New Focus, Seven Mountain, Carrier, Kairos, and Redshift record labels. In October 2021, she released Kermès – a collection of works by composers Giulia Lorusso, Linda Catlin Smith, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, and Rebecca Saunders – to widespread critical acclaim.

Julia Den Boer is a recipient of the Solti Foundation Award; she won the Prix Maurice Ohana Award at the 2011 International Orleans Competition and was awarded the 9th Annual Mikhashoff Trust Fund for New Music Pianist/Composer Commissioning Prize with Zosha Di Castri.

Den Boer holds a Bachelor of Music from McGill University and a DMA from SUNY Stony Brook University where she studied under the mentorship of Gilbert Kalish. She also holds a master's degree in international relations from the Université Lyon III.