Julie Harris's Page

A Short Bio

I'm a composer and composition teacher who enjoys being a musical ambassador for classical music!   My students are all in love with classical music and so am I ... We also study and write jazz and film scores, which we think are all part of the classical umbrella. 

The pictures in my slideshow are from some of our many concerts and studio offerings.  We present a yearly Gratitude Concert to raise awareness about cancer and creating healthy lifestyles.  One of our favorite topics is an anti-cancer diet.  Each of our concerts is followed by a free, sit-down dinner of healthy food prepared by North Carolina's best and favorite chef, The Food Fairy.   All of our concerts include newly-composed pieces by our students and other composers in the area. 

Hope you can come hear us sometime!!!

--- Julie Harris

My Music

Tribute to Libba was written in honor of Elizabeth "Libba" Cotton, one of our local folk heroes.  Libba grew up in Carrboro, NC, a wonderful little town I now call home.  She taught herself to play guitar and developed her own distinctive picking style that would become famous.  "Freight Train" is her most popular song, written when she was 11 or 12.   Tribute to Libba is a theme and variation set built on her wonderful song and has echoes of the same train we still hear in Carrboro on quiet summer evenings.   Tribute to Libba was commissioned by concert pianist Greg McCallum, and has been played all over NC and the US.  One of the most interesting performances was in Raleigh, NC, on a program with Mike Seeger, the famous folk singer.  Libba worked in the Seeger home when Pete, Mike and Peggy were young and later achieved international fame when Pete Seeger introduced her to the world.   LIbba was quite a character, and is much beloved by folks around my home town!

Soliloquy was written in December 2007, as a study in sonority and overtones, and as an exercise in overcoming the "tyranny of the barline" and creating a rhythmic language based on the natural rhythms of bird calls and night sounds.  Soliloquy was premiered in September 2010 at our First Annual Gratitude Concert, as a gift to the oncology department of UNC Hospital, Chapel Hill, NC.  The .mp3 is from Finale.

American Triptych was written in late 1999 - early 2000, as an exploration of American folk music, and especially tunes from the South.  The first movement is based on a well-known fiddle tune called "Ole Joe Clark".  The second movement, "Hush-a-Bye" combines night sounds with two beloved lullabies, "All the Pretty Little Horses" and "Hush Little Baby Don't Say a Word".  The third movement is a romp through the Southern classic "Shortnin' Bread" and has a point in the middle where the entire section is repeated in retrograde - exactly backwards.  American Triptych was recorded by American pianist Greg McCallum on his 2004 CD "Southern Quilt".  It will be performed in European concerts in the spring and summer of 2013 by the wonderful British concert pianist Helen Burford.