ABOUT
Julie Yuqing Ye is an Oslo-based classical pianist, known for her versatile work as both a soloist and chamber musician. She has performed at notable venues such as the Norwegian Opera & Ballet, Oslo Concert Hall, the Munch Museum, University Aula in Oslo, as well as Wigmore Hall, Draper's Hall, and Milton Court Concert Hall in London.
At the age of eight, she was admitted to Unge Talenter, a program for young and talented musicians at Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo, and started studying with Einar Steen-Nøkleberg. In 2018 she completed her Artist Diploma (Diplomstudiet) at the Norwegian Academy of Music, together with a masters degree in Music Performance at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Throughout her studies, Julie worked with prominent teachers, including Marianna Shirinyan, Håvard Gimse, Charles Owen, Katya Apekisheva, and spent an exchange term at the Claudio Monteverdi Conservatorio in Bolzano, studying with Alessandra Georgia Brustia.
Her festival appearances include Oslo Chamber Music Festival, Oxford Philomusica Piano Festival, Beijing International Music Festival and Academy, International Summer Academy Mozarteum, Hardanger Musikkfest, Trondheim Kammermusikkfestival and Valdres sommersymfoni.
Julie’s performances have been broadcast on channels like NRK, TV2, and Bayerischer Rundfunk. Notable television appearances include NRK's Grieg Minutt for Minutt (2018) and the show Meisterklasse (2012) alongside Leif Ove Andsnes. She has also collaborated with musicians from the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (Kringkastingsorkesteret) and the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra.
In recent years, Julie has been passionate about bringing classical music to broader audiences. She has been involved in children's concerts, tours in care homes, and has produced several cross-disciplinary performances. Her interest in rarely performed works is reflected in her debut album From the Archives: Hall, Tveitt, Grieg, which features rediscovered gems such as the piano sonatas of Pauline Hall and Geirr Tveitt.
Alongside her performance career, Julie teaches at Barratt Due Institute of Music and serves as a mentor and coach at Nasjonalt Klavertiltak, a talent program for young Norwegian pianists.
Photo: Håvard Ringsevjen
More about me
I was born in 1992 in Germany. My parents are Chinese, but I have lived most of my life in Norway, apart from five adventurous college years in London and a beautiful term in Italy. My first name has French pronunciation, which is a bit random.
It was in Kiel that I started playing the piano. I was four years old, listening to a piano concert played by children. Amazed and very excited, I left my seat during the concert to walk on stage and "play with the other kids". Luckily, my mum stopped me and explained that I had to learn how to play first. So I got a tiny pink keyboard, then a piano teacher, then a proper piano...
And that was the beginning.
I have always considered myself incredibly fortunate with the musicians I have been able to study with. From the beginning my first piano teachers Dorina Santa, Synøve Løchen, and my violin teacher Sissel M. Barth taught me how to play and love music, but also supported and cheered for me in a way that made me dream about becoming a professional musician.
An important reason that made me as a teenager decide to pursue a music degree was the friends I made through chamber music and festivals. Touring the country with groups like Gullfiskene, spending summers at music courses around the world and meeting people with the same passion as me were experiences that made full time music studies a natural choice after high school.
In 2017 I played Shostakovich Piano Concerto No.1 as part of my diploma exam at the Norwegian Music Academy together with the academy orchestra, Karl Heinz-Steffens and trumpet player Camilla Simensen. This concert, as well as my final master recital in Milton Court Concert Hall in London marked the end of a long education towards realising my childhood dream.
If I were not doing music I would probably be working somewhere with animals.
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