Julia Adolphe

Julia Adolphe’s League commission Unearth, Release (Concerto for Viola and Orchestra) received its premiere by the New York Philharmonic, with conductor Jaap van Zweden and Principal Viola Cynthia Phelps as soloist, on November 17-19, 2016.

a bold choice…[where] the viola floats mystical lines above the tremulous, shimmering orchestra.

Anthony Thommasini, New York Times – review of the world premiere of Julia Adolphe’s Unearth, Release

What makes Unearth, Release so immediately appealing is the composer’s command of color and gesture to heighten emotional response. She … leaves space for the viola to resonate as the soloist engages in soliloquy and dialogue. The orchestral writing features colors—prominent solos for bass clarinet and English horn, for example—that mirror aspects of the viola’s signature dark hue. Stacks of smoldering harmony dot the landscape as the soloist finds her path through the fog.

Thomas May, Musical America – review of the world premiere of Julia Adolphe’s Unearth, Release

Adolphe has an expressive voice that combines strong melodic writing with atmospheric orchestration.

Eric C. Simpson, New York Classical Review – review of the world premiere of Julia Adolphe’s Unearth, Release

Composer Julia Adolphe’s music has been described as “alive with invention” (Alex Ross, The New Yorker), “colorful, mercurial, deftly orchestrated” (Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times) and a “mastery of dynamic as well as harmonic complexity” (Financial Times). Adolphe’s works have received performances across the U.S. and abroad by renowned groups such as the New York Philharmonic, Inscape Chamber Orchestra, the USC Thornton Symphony, JACK Quartet violinist Christopher Otto and cellist Kevin McFarland, Grammy-nominated pianist Aron Kallay, the What’s Next? Ensemble, Nouveau Classical Project, the Cornell University Chorus, and the Great Noise Ensemble, among others. In 2015, Adolphe received a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Adolphe is a native New Yorker living in Los Angeles.  

Current commissions include a viola concerto for the New York Philharmonic and a large choral work for James Conlon and the Cincinnati May Festival. The viola concerto, for Philharmonic Principal Viola Cynthia Phelps, is commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and the League of American Orchestras, with generous support from the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. This commission follows on the heels of the New York Philharmonic premiering Adolphe’s orchestral work Dark Sand, Sifting Light as part of the NY PHIL BIENNIAL in June 2014. A winner of the international EarShot New Music Readings’ competition, Adolphe’s first orchestral work was hailed as “remarkably assured…an upbeat to something grander” (The New Yorker). Additionally, Adolphe is composing an opera set in present-day Iran with librettist Nahal Navidar.

Adolphe currently pursues a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the USC Thornton School of Music. Prior teachers include Stephen Hartke, Steven Stucky, and Donald Crockett. Adolphe holds a Master of Music degree in music composition from USC and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music and the College Scholar Program from Cornell University.

(November 2016)

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Photo Credit: Stephen Busken