Composer

Julia Werntz studied composition independently with composer and saxophonist Joseph Maneri for several years, and earned her doctorate from Brandeis University. Since the mid 1990s, her music has been almost exclusively microtonal. Her compositions have been performed at concert series and festivals around the Northeastern United States and Europe, including the Tage für Neue Musik 2003 at the Darmstadt Akademie für Tonkunst, the Stockholm New Music Festival, the 16th Week of Contemporary Music, Bucharest, the Here/Now Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria, the UK Microfest3, the BKA Theater in Berlin, New York’s Vision Festival, and June in Buffalo. In Boston, her works have been performed by the Enchanted Circle, Extension Works, Auros Group for New Music, Firebird Ensemble, Prana Duo, and Boston Microtonal Society concert series.

Werntz has published articles on microtonal and other contemporary music in Perspectives of New Music, The Sonneck Society Bulletin, ParisTransatlantic, and NewMusicBox. At the New England Conservatory, she teaches Microtonal Composition and Performance as well as tonal music theory, and she teaches composition at Northeastern University. She is Artistic Director of the Boston Microtonal Society, and co-founder of its chamber ensemble, NotaRiotous.