Composer, pianist and educator, Julia Muench is on the faculty of the Monmouth Conservatory of Music in Red Bank, New Jersey, where she regularly gives solo and chamber music concerts as well as music workshops. Julia is also a member of the New York Women Composers, the American Music Center, and ASCAP where she was recently awarded a writer’s award in the Ascaplus classical division.

Julia is a classically trained pianist and holds her Bachelor of Music and Master’s Degree in Music and Applied Piano from the University of Miami, where she studied under Robert Floyd and the late Teresa Escandon, a longtime pupil of Isabelle Vengerova.

As an educator, Julia studied under Maxwell Lepper and has had training in the Dalcroze music education method from Juilliard which incorporates music and movement. As a composer, she encompasses a range of styles in her compositional work and draws inspiration from the classical repertoire, world music, and life in general. Some of her original compositions for piano include: Prismatika (2006) which was specially choreographed for a live concert, Folia Variations, Seven Pieces for Piano (2007) : Nautilus, Hanley’s Theme, 6/8 Waltz, Blue Bell Sway, Phasing and Mirrors, 3 Guatemalan Folktunes arranged for Trumpet in Bb, and is currently publishing her book of 32 Obscure & Exotic Scales and Chords for the Composer, as well as A Beginning Handbook of Obscure Scales from Around the World. Her more recent compositions include: Takes Two and Syzygisms with Tango which premiered at the Monmouth Conservatory in her Faculty recital, “Explorations” in 2008, which consisted entirely of her own compositions and arrangements. Other recent works include: Spiralesque, Modality, and Untitled Light and Sound, © 2008. Her Vistas I © 2007 piano book for students is the result of over many years experience in teaching music.

Julia has also been influenced by her studies of Spanish music and dance as seen in some of her recent concerts, “Music for the Dance” which included piano music by various Spanish composers as well as some of her own compositions. Recently she organized and performed music for Hispanic Heritage Month at Eastern Connecticut State University ( April 2008) in a music program which included her own compositions. Her original piano suite, Seven Pieces for the Children of Guatemala was performed live as the soundtrack to a special Guatemalan children’s photo essay. Julia’s original compositions can be heard on NYWC Web Radio and viewed at http://www.amc.net/JuliaMuench or www.classicpro.com. Her live performances can be viewed on youtube.com. Her newest piano recording will be available in September 2010.