Originally from Uniondale, New York, 23-year old first-generation Filipino-American Jay Julio (they/them) is a multi-instrumentalist, teacher, and composer-arranger living between LA and NYC. They have shared the stage with Broadway singers, pop stars, and classical music’s hottest young talents in performances from Washington D.C. to the Philippines, and can be heard on Captured Tracks, Fiendish Endeavor, and Broadway Records. They recently appeared in the official collaborative music video for Major Lazer & Marcus Mumford’s single, Lay Your Head On Me, released as a fundraiser for COVID-19 research efforts. Their compositions and arrangements have been heard at the Cannes Film Festival and at New York Fashion Week and performed by soprano-double bass duo confluss. Their 2021-2022 season has included invitations to perform with the Dallas, Memphis, and New World Symphonies, the Metropolis Ensemble, PROTESTRA, American Composers Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and tenure-track appointments to the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra and the Tucson Symphony.

Jay has received fellowships to attend the Music Academy of the West, [email protected], and the Aspen, Manchester, and Lake Tahoe music festivals; they have also spent summers at the Yellow Barn Young Artists Program, the National Symphony Orchestra’s Summer Music Institute as a Young Artist of Color, and have been invited to the Spoleto, Pacific, and Thy Music Festivals. Jay has served on the substitute viola & chamber music faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, as a Teaching Fellow at the Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program, and regularly instructs at Interlochen Center for the Arts.

A prizewinner in national competitions held by the National Federation of Music Clubs and the Music Teachers National Association and recipient of a 2019 Juilliard Career Grant, Jay recently was recipient of a 2020 Music Academy of the West Fast Pitch Award for their musical-abolitionist organization Sound Off: Music for Bail.

After taking their first viola lesson at age 14 at the Mannes Preparatory Division, Jay graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy at 16 studying with Renee Skerik with their highest musical honor, the Young Artist Award, received their BM in Viola Performance from the Manhattan School of Music under Karen Ritscher on full scholarship, and received their MM at the Juilliard School on a full-tuition Susan W. Rose Fellowship under the tutelage of Heidi Castleman and Misha Amory. Other important mentors include Anne Lanzilotti and Lina Bahn. For rhythm, Jay studies poetry.

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You can also visit my website at jayjulio.com.