Julie Yuqing Ye

I discovered Pauline Hall’s Piano Sonata in 2022, after the manuscript had been tucked away in the Norwegian National Library, most likely unperformed in public for over a century. Since then, I’ve performed it at festivals and concert series both in Norway and abroad, and recorded it for my debut album From the Archives (2024).

It’s a striking and inventive work, and I hope more people will discover her music, alongside other lesser-known composers whose voices deserve to be heard.

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Read and listen to interviews about her: Media

Since 2018 I have been playing with pianist and longtime friend Olga Jørgensen. Together as Duo Futt, we explore four-hand and two-piano repertoire, performing both familiar favourites like Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Schubert’s Fantasie, to lesser-known gems by female composers such as Cécile Chaminade, Agathe Backer Grøndahl, and Marie Jaëll. We have an ongoing project finding more of the latter and giving it the exposure it truly deserves.

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Visit Duo Futt's instagram: duofutt

In 2020 I did a collaboration with the actress, dramatic writer and singer Maren Sennels. It resulted in a concert-drama combining music and songs with poetry and monologues. They all had in common that they were about loneliness. The show, En som - en hyllest til ensomheten, was due to be premiered in March that year, but had to be cancelled due to Covid-19. The following months of social distancing and quarantines made loneliness a much featured topic. We have since performed the show in Oslo, Grimstad and Flekkefjord, at Det Norske Teateret, Off-Hedda festivalen, Frogner church and Teater Bislett.

I've always been passionate about chamber music and cross-art collaborations. One of my recent projects is the concert-lecture Music and the Brain, created with pianist and neuroscientist (and husband) Håvard Ringsevjen.

In this unique format, Håvard draws on both his disciplines to present fascinating insights into how music affects the brain, and vice versa. I join him on stage with solo and four-hand piano works that comment on the themes of the lecture.

We’ve performed this at venues such as the European Piano Teachers Association (EPTA) Conference 2024, Lommedalen Church, and Bærum Kulturskole.

I have a lot of fun creating performances for young audiences through the group På spissen, with pianist Siril A. Valberg and dancer Julie S. Dokken.

Our first production was The Mini Nutcracker, a playful adaptation of the ballet for four-hand piano, dance, storytelling, and audience participation. In 2024 alone, we performed it in several cities and gave ten shows in children’s hospitals around Oslo.

For 2025, we’re planning a new interactive version of Peter and the Wolf, again for four-hand piano and movement, where the children help shape the story on stage. I hope the kids enjoy it as much as we enjoy making it :)

In October 2023, we also created a show based on Ibsen’s Peer Gynt and Grieg’s music, adapted for retirement homes. We toured 15 care homes in Bærum with that performance.

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Read more about our projects: www.paspissen.com