VirtualArtists.com

"Ah, Music. A magic far beyond all we do here!" -- Albus Dumbledore

UPDATE November 14th, 2011: We presented our Second Annual Gratitude Concert this past Saturday, the 12th. What a wonderful time we all had! Incredible new music, superb composers, the best performers in the area, scrumptious food, and a gathering afterward that lasted well into the night. Hope you can join us for the next one - these are unforgettable evenings of music, sharing, nurturing, healing, and just plain fun!!!!

A line or two about me:

I'm a composer, performer, teacher, and lifelong student who is passionately devoted to music. My primary focus at this time is teaching piano and advanced composition.

More about my studio:

My composition students love to write wildly creative and original pieces for national and international competitions. They've consistently won at the state and regional levels, and enjoy premiering their works across North Carolina. We were thrilled that a member of our studio won the 2010 MTNA Composition Competition at the National level!

My piano students enjoy both solo and chamber performing. One of their great joys is to work with other performers in the area. Together, we've created a vibrant community of piano, woodwinds, strings, and percussion. We're still looking for brass players!

But the greatest energy of both groups of students goes into creating on-going events for and with our community. We love sharing music, collaborating with other musicians, and planning concerts which help spread important information, raise awareness, and benefit the community.

Our on-going events:

Our Gratitude Concerts share new music with the community as we also spread information about cancer treatment and prevention. In our first three Gratitude Concerts, at UNC Hospital and United Church of Chapel Hill, we distributed information about ovarian cancer to several hundred people. We also had a wonderful time sharing music and getting to know folks at the hospital and in our audience.

Our Random Acts of Creativity Concert in December 2010 featured a variety of chamber music, premieres of new pieces, and our wildly popular Scariest Minute contest. We wish you could have been there to hear the opening gong, among other auditory delights! It was truly an evening to remember.

In June 2011, we presented Shostakovich, Mozart and Friends: An Evening of Celebration. This tribute to our senior students Emma Armstrong-Carter and Colin Laursen included both masterworks and premieres. The five premieres included a piano fugue, three spicy clarinet solos entitled "Colors", the wonderfully wild "The State of Time" for flute, violin and piano, and the exuberant and moving "Native American Suite" for four flutes, violin, pipe organ, two violas, two acoustic guitars, table drum, and sleigh bells. A superb performance of Shostakovich's 8th String Quartet brought shafts of setting sun and a standing ovation to the close of the first half. Mozart's delightful four-handed Andante with Variations completed the concert with musical laughter and fun.

Post Script, or Coda: For those who are interested in credentials, here's a few of mine: I have degrees in Music Theory & Composition, and studied with Iain Hamilton, Robert Ward, Dan Locklair, and others. I'm a member of ASCAP, MTNA, Phi Theta Kappa, Virtual Artists and American Composers Forum. I've been teaching most of my adult life, for a grand total of almost thirty years. I live in a small town in North Carolina, surrounded by a lovely all-season garden, where my black and white cat Lyra loves to hide among the flowers. My students and I study Theory out on the deck eight months of the year. The Circle of Fifths yields even more treasures in the midst of flora and fauna!

I hope you'll come visit some time.

-- Julie Harris