Jay Julio Laureta
Instrument: Viola
Studies:
Manhattan School of Music, BM
Biography:
First-generation Filipino-American violist Jay Julio hails from Uniondale, New York. A prizewinner in national competitions held by the National Federation of Music Clubs, the Music Teachers National Association, and the YoungArts Foundation, as well as local competitions held by the Woodmere Music Club and the Long Island Choral Society, he has been profiled and featured on Interlochen Public Radio and SiriusXM. Jay has spent recent summers at the Yellow Barn Young Artists Program, the festivals of Lake Tahoe, Manchester, and Texas, and the National Symphony Orchestra’s Summer Music Institute through their Young Artists of Color program -- he looks forward to attending the Aspen Music Festival this year as a New Horizons Fellow.
He performs throughout the year with ensembles such as Symphony in C, the New Juilliard Ensemble and AXIOM at Juilliard, and appeared alongside Joshua Bell at the 25th anniversary gala of the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Additional appearances this year include performances at the Philadelphia Inclusive Arts Festival and the Juilliard’s FOCUS Festival. As violist of the Madkoi Quartet, he has collaborated with Italian fashion magazine Uomo Moderno in a performance for the Italian royal family and was recently mentioned in a BBC Music article on Groupmuse. With the Madkoi Quartet and as an independent collaborator, he has premiered works by Adam Cuthbért, Josefino Chino Toledo, and TJ Cole in North America and beyond. He has also worked closely with Aaron Jay Kernis, Richard Danielpour, and Andrew Norman.
Jay recently started his MM at the Juilliard School on a full-tuition Susan W. Rose Graduate Fellowship, studying with Heidi Castleman and Misha Amory. He completed his BM at the Manhattan School of Music under Karen Ritscher on a full scholarship after graduating from the Interlochen Arts Academy at the age of sixteen with its highest musical honor, the Young Artist Award. He has studied chamber music with members of the Juilliard, Cavani, and American string quartets, and participated in masterclasses with Jennifer Koh, Kim Kashkashian, and Cynthia Phelps. He began his formal musical training at the age of fourteen through the Mannes Preparatory Division, and counts among his mentors Matthew Lipman, Renee Skerik, and Anne Lanzilotti. He is a teaching intern at the Kaufman Center’s Opus 118 Harlem School of Music, Teaching Fellow at the Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program, and substitute viola and chamber music instructor at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division. He plays on a Douglas Cox viola graciously on loan from the Virtu Foundation and an Arcos Brasil bow borrowed from the Juilliard School.
