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JULIA HÜLSMANN

Julia Hülsmann was born in 1968 in Bonn and comes from a musical background. She began taking classical piano lessons at the age of eleven and started her first band at the age of sixteen. In 1991, she moved to Berlin to study Jazz Piano at the University of the Arts (HdK) with Walter Norris, Aki Takase, Sigi Busch, David Friedman, Jerry Granelli, and Kirk Nurock. During her studies, she had the opportunity to attend workshops with renowned artists such as Bill Dobbins, Mathias Rüegg, John Taylor, Anthony Cox, and Jane Ira Bloom.

In 1992, Hülsmann joined the German Youth Jazz Orchestra (BuJazzO), which was then led by Peter Herbolzheimer. She graduated in 1996 with a dissertation titled “Do We Have to Sound Differently? The Self-Image of Female Jazz Pianists.” Since 1997, Julia Hülsmann has been performing with her own trio, playing in clubs and festivals all across Germany.

In late 2000, she released her debut album “Hülsmann, Muellbauer, Winch: Trio” (BIT). In 1999, she received a grant from the Berlin Senate, enabling her to finance a stay in New York in early 2000, during which she took lessons with Richie Beirach, Maria Schneider, Gil Goldstein, and Jane Ira Bloom. While in New York, she also met singer Rebekka Bakken, leading to a collaboration that resulted in the release of “Scattering Poems” (ACT) in 2003, an album based on the poetry of E. E. Cummings. Selling over 10,000 copies, “Scattering Poems” won the German Jazz Award.

In 2004, “Julia Hülsmann Trio with Anna Lauvergnac: Come Closer,” a project celebrating the music of Randy Newman, was released on ACT, followed by an extensive tour. Between 2003 and 2005, Hülsmann was a Dorothea Erxleben fellow at the University of Music, Drama and Media Hanover, during that time she composed the suite “Le Moustier” for string orchestra and piano. She lectured in Songwriting and Composition in Hanover from 2003 to 2012.

In 2004, the Grabenfest in Vienna commissioned Julia Hülsmann to write a piece. The five-movement suite “Drei Farben Weiß” premiered in June 2004 in Vienna with singer and lyricist Anna Lauvergnac. In 2006, she released “Julia Hülsmann Trio with Roger Cicero: Good Morning Midnight” on ACT, again setting poetry to music, this time with texts by Emily Dickinson.

In November 2007, the suite “Le Moustier” for piano trio and string quartet was first performed at the Berlin Jazzfest, with the Julia Hülsmann Trio joined by the Gerdur Gunnarsdottir String Quartet. In March 2008, the Trio, featuring Marc Muellbauer on bass and Heinrich Köbberling on drums, recorded “The End of a Summer” in Oslo, released in October 2008 as their first CD for ECM, produced by Manfred Eicher.

In 2009, Julia Hülsmann and Meike Goosmann (saxophone) initiated a project with the BuJazzO, during which Hülsmann arranged “Drei Farben Weiß” for Big Band. In February 2009, the album “Marc Sinan/Julia Hülsmann: Fasìl” (featuring guitar, vocals, viola, piano, bass, drums), which includes music by Julia Hülsmann and texts by Marc Schiffer, was released on ECM.

In April 2010, the Julia Hülsmann Trio was invited for the second time to perform at the German Jazz Meeting in Bremen, presenting their music to an international audience as part of the trade show jazzahead!. “Imprint,” the Trio’s second album for ECM, was recorded in Oslo in March 2010 and released in early 2011.

In 2012, Hülsmann’s Trio was joined by English trumpeter and flugelhorn player Tom Arthurs, transforming it into the Julia Hülsmann Quartet. The group’s first album, “In Full View,” was released in spring 2013 on ECM. Early in 2012, Hülsmann, together with Felix Falk, started the JazzMusikerAufruf, an initiative supported by over 1,000 artists. Between 2012 and 2013, Hülsmann served as the first chairperson of the Union Deutscher Jazzmusiker.

For 2014, Julia Hülsmann was named ‘Improviser in Residence’ in Moers. She currently teaches Jazz Piano at the University of the Arts in Berlin (UdK), as well as Songwriting and Composition at the University of Osnabrück. In 2016, she received the SWR Jazz Prize and the WDR Honour Award for her political work to improve working conditions for jazz musicians.

 

The album "A Clear Midnight: Kurt Weill and America," by the Julia Hülsmann Quartet featuring Theo Bleckmann, was released in 2015 and serves as a tribute to composer Kurt Weill and his connection to American music.

In 2019, she was Artist in Residence at the Elbjazz Festival. In November, the quartet album “Not Far From Here” was released, coinciding with the ECM label's 50th anniversary, followed by an extensive tour with concerts in Paris, London, and Brussels.

In 2019, Julia Hülsmann was also leading the JazzBaltica All Star Band, where she was responsible for conducting, writing, and arranging.

In 2020, the Julia Hülsmann Quartet received the German Jazz Award for the best national album for “Not Far From Here” (ECM). Julia Hülsmann has been a professor of piano (jazz + popular music) and ensemble conducting at the UdK Berlin since 2020.

Julia Hülsmann released her album "The Next Door" in 2022. On The Next Door Julia Hülsmann returns with the quartet from 2019’s Not Far From Here, and presents her unique pianistic voice in a varied programme of almost exclusively original music, composed by herself and her colleagues – tenor saxophonist Uli Kempendorff, Marc Muellbauer on double bass and drummer Heinrich Köbberling. A deep respect for the jazz tradition, as cultivated in the post-bop and modal jazz of the 60s, permeates this session and, with the quartet’s modern twist, sets the stage for highly expressive soloing and profound interplay.

Also in 2022 Julia Hülsmann worked with the NDR Bigband, where she composed and arranged all the music. In 2023 she participated in the HR Bigband under the direction of Theresia Phillip. This project featured only her own compositions, with arrangements created by both Theresia and Julia.

In 2023, the Julia Hülsmann Quartet was nominated for the German Jazz Award in the "Band of the Year" category. Additionally, Julia Hülsmann received a nomination in the "Broadcast Production of the Year" category for her program with the NDR Bigband, titled "Play Jazz: NDR Bigband: In Concert with Julia Hülsmann."

Julia Hülsmann has undertaken numerous concert tours abroad throughout her career. In 2015, she performed in the United States, Canada, China, and Peru. The following year, in 2016, she visited Central Asia, including Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, as well as Chile. In 2019, she traveled to Brazil, and in 2020, she toured Central America, performing in Salvador, Nicaragua, and Mexico. In 2022, she visited Uzbekistan, and in 2023, she held concerts in Jerusalem and Jordan.

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AWARDS

 

2008  

Golden German Jazz Award, Scattering Poems

 

2016  

SWR Jazz Prize 
Ehrenpreis für besondere politische Initiativen: Union Deutscher Jazzmusiker (UDJ) (Pianistin Julia Hülsmann, Saxofonist Felix Falk, Schlagzeuger Jonas Pirzer)

 

2020  

German Jazz Award for the best national album for
“Not Far From Here” 

 

2020  

Trierer Jazzpreis 

 

2021  

German Jazz Award for the best instrumental album national 

 

2022

GEMA-Musikautor*innenpreis in der Kategorie Jazz/Cross Over

2023

Nomination Deutscher Jazzpreis in der Kategorie "band of the year"

Nomination Deutscher Jazzpreis in der Kategorie "broadcast production of the year", NDR Bigband (Play Jazz: NDR Bigband: in Konzert mit Julia Hülsmann)

DISCOGRAPHY

 

Under The Surface

Julia Hülsmann Quartet

Release Date: 31.01.25, ECM

 

The Next Door

Julia Hülsmann Quartet

Release Date: 26.08.22, ECM

 

Not Far From Here

Julia Hülsmann Quartet

Release Date: 01.11.2019, ECM

 

Sooner and Later

Julia Hülsmann Trio

Release Date: 24.02.2017, ECM

 

A Clear Midnight

Julia Hülsmann Trio

Theo Bleckmann

Release Date: 06.03.2015, ECM

 

A Full View

Julia Hülsmann Quartet

Release Date: 12.04.2013, ECM

 

Imprint

Julia Hülsmann Trio

Release Date: 18.02.2011, ECM

 

Fasil

Marc Sinan, Julia Hülsmann

Release Date: 27.02.2009, ECM

 

The End of a Summer

Julia Hülsmann Trio

Release Date: 17.10.2008, ECM

 

Scattering Poems

Julia Hülsmann Trio with Rebekka Bakken

Release Date: 01.01.2003, ACT

 

Good Morning Midnight 

Julia Hülsmann Trio with Roger Cicero

Release Date: 27.01.2006, ACT

 

Come Closer – Celebrating Randy Newman

Julia Hülsmann Trio with Anna Lauvergnac

Release Date: 01.04.2004, ACT

 

Hülsmann Muellbauer Winch

Trio

Release Date: 28.04.2000, BIT / Jazzhaus

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