Julie Lyonn Lieberman

JULIE LYONN LIEBERMAN has helped develop the multi-style string field over the last forty+ years through her work as an educator, author, radio producer, composer, writer, recording artist, and performer. She has performed on and off Broadway as well as in folk and jazz clubs throughout the United States, and abroad.

Julie is the author of twelve music books, five instructional music videos, seven hours of programming for National Public Radio, over two dozen string orchestra scores published by Alfred, Excelcia Music (originally Kendor Music) and Carl Fischer, as well as over fifty articles for music magazines.

Julie has presented master classes for ASTA, European String Teachers Association (ESTA), National Association for Music Education (NAfME), International Association for Jazz Educators (IAJE), the Suzuki Institute, National String Workshop, National Orchestra Festival, International String Workshop, National Young Audiences, and the Carnegie Hall LinkUp Program. She’s been

on faculty as an adjunct at The Juilliard School, The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, William Paterson College Jazz Department, Manhattan School of Music, New York University’s Gallatin Division, VanderCook College of Music, and Mercy College. In addition, she has worked as a guest clinician at the Eastman School of Music, Stanford Jazz Workshop, and many other schools and programs across the US, in Canada, and abroad.

She produced four American Jazz String Summits in the 1980s and 1990s featuring many of the top improvising string players in America, and co-produced three multi-style string festivals within the American String Teachers Conference in 2003, 2004, and 2005, serving as the chair for the 2004 component.

Julie is the Artistic Director for the program, Strings Without Boundaries, a D’Addario Orchestral Premiere Clinician through which she runs quarterly teacher training sessions in multi-style playing, an NS Design Performance Artist, as well as an Eastman Strings Ambassador.

Julie Lyonn Lieberman has composed over two dozen American and World roots styled string orchestra scores published by Carl Fischer, Excelcia Music (originally Kendor Music), and Alfred Music. She is the recipient of over two dozen ASCAP awards and eight Meet the Composer awards and has performed her original music on and off Broadway, throughout the U.S., Canada, and in Europe, and on television and radio. She also has five recordings of original music to her credit.

Lieberman acted as composer-in-residence for four seasons at the City Center Manhattan Theatre Club Writers in Performance series. Her music for Alec Baldwin’s/Steve Lawrence’s production of "The Devil and Daniel Webster" aired on WNYC after premiering at City Center. Other productions include, "The Don," based on Edith Grossman’s new translation and in celebration of Don Quixote’s 400th birthday starring Mario Cantone, Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Daphne Rubin-Vega; as well as "Hemmingway," starring Peter Gallagher, and "Edgar," based on the life and writings of Edgar Allan Poe.

Lieberman’s world jazz string quartet was commissioned by Manchester Music Festival, "Ben’s Millennium Romp," and premiered to a standing ovation in 2000. She composed and recorded the sound track for the Taoist exercise video "Body Logos" in 2002. Her music for the Off-Broadway play "The Yellow House" by Leonardo Shapiro won critical acclaim in the late eighties, premiering at La Mama in New York City and later traveled to Theatre of Nations, each for a thirty-night run.

Ms. Lieberman’s recordings of original music include "Empathic Connections," 1981, "Arcturus," 1984, "The Roaring Brook Fiddler," 1991, and "Mixing America," 1994. She was also a guest artist on Laura Nyro’s album, "Mother’s Spiritual," 1984, designing her own violin lines for the album.

Ms. Lieberman was the composer-in-residence for the first feminist theatre company in the world, “Emmatroupe,” for several years in the 1980s. The productions were contributed to by writers Gloria Steinem, Kate Millet, and Andrea Dworkin and directed by Eleanor Johnson.

She has also composed for and performed with such theater companies as Shaliko Company, The Magic Circle Opera Company, Imaginations Unlimited, and the Women’s Ensemble Theatre. Compositions for dance companies include Sundance, The American Spanish Dance Company, and choreographers Merian Soto, Judy Dworin, and Holly Fairbank.

To date, Julie has fulfilled commissions for:

• City Center’s “Writers in Performance” series (4 commissions)

• The off-Broadway production of “The Yellow House” written and directed by Leonardo Shapiro. It premiered at La Mama for 30 days and went to Theatre of Nations for another 30 days

• The off-off-Broadway productions of “A Girl Starts Out” and “Against Silence” for Emmatroupe

• Cedar Rapids Symphony

• Manchester Music Festival

• “Body Logos” (an exercise DVD)

• Numerous theater and dance companies and schools throughout the U.S.

Solo Violin Compositions

Lieberman’s compositions for blues, jazz, and world styles can be found in her books, "Rockin’ Out with Blues Fiddle," "The Contemporary Violinist," "How to Play Contemporary Strings," and "A Festival of Violin & Fiddle Styles."

Planet Strings Informance

She has composed 16 string orchestral scores for this project in addition to writing three scripts, practice and performance tracks for the project, and video tutorials.

JULIE LYONN LIEBERMAN has helped develop the multi-style string field over the last forty+ years as a performer, recording artist, clinician, and author, as well as a concert, workshop and radio producer. She is the Artistic Director for the summer program, Strings Without Boundaries: Where 21^st century techniques meet tradition, creativity, and style. She is also an NS Design Performance Artist, a D’Addario Premiere Clinician, and an Eastman Strings Ambassador.

PERFORMER

Julie has performed her original music off-Broadway, with dance companies, in folk as well as in jazz clubs throughout the U.S., Canada, and in Europe, and on television and radio. She has five recordings of original music to her credit.  Her original music was selected to be performed live at the 1984 New Music America conference in Houston, TX, and highlights in her career include concerts with the historic jazz violinists Joe Kennedy, Jr.

She started her performance career at folk festivals in the 1970s and 80s, working with artists like Lewis London, Papa John Kolstad, Barbara Dane, and David Amram. During this time period, she was a member of the trio, Nightsong, performing original and traditional music up and down the east coast. She then toured with Laraaji Venus, performing in venues like Omega Institute and New York Open Center. She also performed with three members of the Paul Winter Consort: Jim Scott, Susan Osborne, and David Darling.

She performed as a jazz violinist in the Steve Browman Jazz Quintet for a number of years before beginning to tour under her own name, hiring artists based on location. 

She has performed on Broadway (M. Butterfly) in New York City, Toronto, and Atlanta, as well as off-Broadway as the composer/performer for the productions of The Yellow House (at La Mama and Theatre of Nations) as well two productions by Emmatroupe, the first feminist theatre company in the world: Against Silence and A Girl Starts Out.

Julie has also performed with Grammy-nominated vocalist Janet Lawson, and has shared the stage with colleagues such as Matt Glaser, Darol Anger, John Blake, Jr., L Shankar, Dave Balakrishnan, Martin Norgaard, Matt Wilson, Richard Greene, as well as artists like Glen Velez and Steve Gorn. 

She performed her original music for the off' Broadway play, The Yellow House, at La Mama and Theatre of Nations, and then later at the United Nations for an event featuring Vanessa Redgrave. She also performed her original music at Radio City Music Hall numerous times (see Composer below).

RECORDING ARTIST

Julie's violin playing can be heard on Laura Nyro's final album, Mother's Spiritual, as well as on material recorded by New Kids on the Block. Her recordings of original music featuring voice and violin, include Empathic Connections, 1981, Arcturus, 1984, Roaring Brook Fiddler, 1991, and Mixing America, 1994. She has also played violin on made-for-TV films, and TV commercials.

Lieberman has been featured as the primary violinist on the recording, Fiddle, that is used throughout the world by the organization “Music Together.”

Some of the artists that have recorded with Julie include  Dave Samuels, Rufus Reid, and Armen Donelian, among others.

AUTHOR

Julie is the author of thirteen music books, including A Festival of Violin & Fiddle Styles, 12 Rock Strings Lesson Plans, The Creative Band and Orchestra, The Contemporary Violinist, 12-Key Practice, How to Play Contemporary Strings, Alternative Strings: The New Curriculum, Improvising Violin, Rockin’ Out With Blues Fiddle, You Are Your Instrument, and Planet Musician. 

She has written over 55 articles for publications such as STRINGS, STRAD, Fiddler Magazine, Downbeat Magazine, School Band and Orchestra, American String Teacher Journal, and Jazz Educators Journal, and has been featured in hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles and reviews.

She authored the Creative Musicianship section for ASTA’s national curriculum book, and has six educational DVDs to her credit. Julie also worked on Tracy Silverman’s Strum Bowing book, Jeannie Deva's Powerful Performances, as well as Debbie Lyle's Bornoff Primer (Foundation for the Advancement of String Education).In addition, she has created seven programs for National Public Radio on jazz violin (The Talking Violin hosted by Billy Taylor, and Jazz Profiles: Jazz Violin hosted by Nancy Wilson). In addition, she developed the creative musicianship curriculum for American String Teachers Association’s publication, Curriculum for School String Programs K-12, authored a chapter for a book by STRINGS Magazine and  helped The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music develop a jazz string curriculum. 

Her curriculum for her national project, The Green Anthem was implemented in part by MENC: Music Educators National Conference, reaching six million participants.

COMPOSER

Julie has composed over two dozen published string orchestra scores in American and World styles (Kendor Music, Alfred Music, and Carl Fischer).

Lieberman is the recipient of two-dozen ASCAP awards and eight Meet the Composer awards for her original music. Her opus to the planet, The Green Anthem, was included in MENC’s 2010 World’s Largest Concert.

She was the composer-in-residence for three seasons at the City Center Manhattan Theatre Club “Writers in Performance” series. Her music for Alec Baldwin’s/Steve Lawrence’s production of “The Devil and Daniel Webster” aired on WNYC after premiering at City Center. Other productions included “The Don,” based on Edith Grossman’s new translation and in celebration of Don Quixote’s 400th birthday starring Mario Cantone, Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Daphne Rubin-Vega,; “Hemmingway,” starring Peter Gallagher, and “Edgar,” based on the life and writings of Edgar Allan Poe.

Lieberman’s jazz string quartet, commissioned by Manchester Music Festival, premiered to a standing ovation in 2000. She also composed and recorded the soundtrack for the Taoist exercise video Body Logos in 2002. Her music for the play The Yellow House by Leonardo Shapiro won critical acclaim in the late eighties. To date, she has fulfilled numerous multi-style string orchestra commissions for venues like Cedar Rapids Symphony, Duluth High School (premiered at GMEA), Milwaukee School for Languages, to name a few. 

EDUCATOR

Julie has taught creative musicianship and world string styles privately as well as in school residencies and teacher trainings across the United States, Europe, and Canada, as well as through organizations and institutions like American String Teachers Association, European String Teachers Association, National Orchestra Festival, National Association for Music Education, International Association of Jazz Educators, The Midwest Clinic, The Starling-Delay Symposium, Suzuki Institute, National String Workshop, International String Workshop, Django in June, The Juilliard MAP Program, National Young Audiences, the Carnegie Hall LinkUp Program, and The Academy (produced by Carnegie/Weill Hall/Juilliard). She also served on the board of advisors for Ken Burns’s 2001 Jazz documentary.

Homespun Tapes has issued three products featuring her as an educator: “Improvising Violin” (a series of five lessons on CD); “The Instrumentalist’s Guide To Fitness, Health, and Musicianship” (a companion DVD to her book, You Are Your Instrument); and “The Vocalist’s Guide To Fitness, Health, and Musicianship” (a companion DVD to her book, You Are Your Instrument).

She has created dozens of video tutorials for bowed string players as well as vocalists.

AWARDS

Julie Lyonn Lieberman is the recipient of the 2014 ASTA Kudos Award, and has garnered over two-dozen ASCAP Plus Awards, and three American String Teachers Association’s National Citation for Leadership & Merit awards. 

RADIO

Julie produced specials and appeared on a weekly interview show on WBAI in NYC for four years. Her music and live interviews were featured a number of times on WNYC in NYC, including on John Shaefer's program, New Sounds. She has been interviewed on numerous radio programs across the country as well as in France. She also produced two series for National Public Radio: The Talking Violin with Dr. Billy Taylor, host, and Jazz Profiles: Jazz Violin with Nancy Wilson, host.

Julie Lyonn Lieberman Early History

Early History (synopsis)

Julie Lyonn Lieberman grew up in Montclair, New Jersey. Her parents, Dr. Rosilyn Wilder (d.2006), actress, educator, director, and author, and Ben Lieberman (d. 1999), journalist and sculptor, exposed her to dance, theater, and music lessons from age two, on. Her sister, Jeannie Deva, was a prominent vocal coach, singer, and authored The Contemporary Vocalist. Her husband, Len Cascia, is an instrument-builder, software programmer, and plays pedal steel, guitar and piano. They married in 1998. She was exposed to American and world roots music from an early age. Her family was extremely active on the folk music scene, helping to start the Folk Society of Northern New Jersey. Her cousins booked the U.S. tour for the Boys of the Lough—with whom she traveled as a teen, and her Uncle, Robert Weiss, created the alternative to Tanglewood, The Music Inn, in the Berkshires, which was run by her cousin, David Rothstein.

Between the years 1962 to 1976, Lieberman studied classical violin with Samuel Applebaum, Nancy Clarke, Romuald Tecco, Stanley Richie, William Henry, and at Manhattan School of Music Prep Division. While in college at Sarah Lawrence College (1972–1976, BA) she began eight years of study off-campus with jazz pianist Sal Mosca (1974–1982). Later, she earned her MA at New York University Gallatin Division.

Parallel to her education on violin, Julie took private voice lessons and weekly performance workshops with Ray Evans Harrell, Director of the Magic Circle Repertory Company, for seven years; she also studied voice with Maitland Peters, Department Chair at Manhattan School of Music, for another seven years. Other studies include four years of Alexander Technique with Judah Kataloni, an in-depth workshop with famed Moshe Feldenkrais, composition with Dary John Mizelle and Stanley Walden, and Technologies for Creating as well as Structural Consulting with Robert Fritz.

During the eighties, Lieberman produced the First, Second, and Third American Jazz String Summits in New York City. These seminal events helped put improvised string players on the map. She presented over thirty improvising string players, such as Claude “Fiddler” Williams, Darol Anger and Dave Balakrishnan’s first installment of Turtle Island String Quartet, David Darling, John Blake, Jr., Scarlet Rivera, Vicki Horner Richards, L. Subramanium, L. Shankar, and more, helping many of these artists achieve recognition on a broader scale through coverage of the concerts by The New York Times, The Daily News, The New York Post, prominent radio programs like “New Sounds” with John Schaefer, host, as well as through string magazine coverage. Her first National Public radio series, The Talking Violin, premiered in 1989, and featured the history of improvisation on violin from 1925 through the late eighties. Over fifty improvising violinists were included. Ms. Lieberman also helped create and appeared in the documentary film, Improvised Violin: Four Personal Views, with Leroy Jenkins, Billy Bang, and John Blake, Jr. In the late eighties. She also toured with the bilingual theatre company as musical director to perform Della Burford's "Journey to Dodoland" throughout NYC and Guatemala.