Julia Usher facts for kids

Julia Usher, born in 1945, is a talented musician, composer, and project organizer from England. She is well-known for her musical theater works. Besides creating music, she also works as a music therapist, helping people through music.

About Julia Usher

Julia Usher started her music studies at York University and Cambridge. She learned from a teacher named Robert Sherlaw Johnson. After getting her Master of Arts degree, she lived and worked in London.

In 1980, Julia Usher helped start a company called Primavera. This company helped composers publish their music. She created it with Welsh composer Enid Luff. In 1987, Usher was also a founding member of Women in Music, an important group for women musicians. She has worked with many musical groups, including Sounds Positive and the Nash Ensemble. In the 1980s, Usher worked on special projects that mixed different art forms. She collaborated with Derek Shiel, an artist who made sculptures that also created sounds.

In 1999, Usher moved to Colchester. Since 2001, she has focused on creating music for community art projects in North Essex. She has been a "Composer in Residence" with the Colchester Youth Chamber Orchestra. This means she worked closely with them to create music. As part of the Lullaby Project in Colchester, she collected, wrote down, and translated traditional folk songs from different cultures. Her music has won awards, like the Wangford Festival Prize. She has also led music therapy sessions for Nordoff-Robbins, an organization that uses music to help people.

Her Musical Works

Julia Usher is known for her unique collaborations. For example, she worked with artist Derek Shiel. A review in the London Evening Standard newspaper once said that Julia Usher found a way to write down the sounds and notes made by Derek Shiel's unusual art objects. This allowed her to compose music for them. They worked together on many projects, including "A Celebration of Blake's Vision" in 1987. They also did "Soundpaint" performances, where Usher played music while Shiel painted live.

Here are some of Julia Usher's selected works:

• 1980 A Reed in the Wind (for Solo Oboe) - This piece won the Wangford Festival Prize.
• 1986 The Orford Merman (Music Theatre) - A work for musical theater.
• 1989 Marak (Piano Solo) - Four short, abstract pieces for piano.
• 1993 Sacred Conversations (for mixed ensemble) - For a group of different instruments.
• 1996 Genetic Code - An orchestral piece for a large group of instruments.
• 2001 Before Light Ends (Piano Solo)
• 2002 Lost Icons (Wind quintet) - For five wind instruments.
• 2002 Magnificat - Commissioned by Women in Music for the Millennium.
• 2004 Clavicle (Clavichord) - This piece won a prize from the British Clavichord Society.
• 2005 Periodic Table lll (for clarinet, oboe, viola, piano)
• 2005 Unruly Sun (for violin, cello, harpsichord) - Commissioned by the Semley Festival.
• 2007 Malkin, Theatre Piece (for chamber ensemble) - A theater piece for a small group of musicians.

Other works include:

• Unfinished Business
• Constellations (1980) - A suite for solo flute.
• SoundPaint (1995–98) - A live improvisation performance piece.
• Vocalism
• When I Saw the Learned Astronomer
• Moths and Moonlight
• The Lullaby Project
• A World of Song

Recordings

Julia Usher's music has been released on CDs and DVDs. Here are some of them:

• Sacred Physic: Music by Julia Usher (2004) - An audio CD featuring Julia Usher and other musicians.
• Touching the Wall: This DVD from 2007 shows a performance of Usher's piece Clavicle with matching graphic images.
• Selected Oboe Exam Recordings (2006) - Recordings for music exams.