Julia Usher

Julia Usher studied composition under Richard Orton and Robert Sherlaw Johnson, in Cambridge and York; and later, qualified as a practising music therapist at the Nordoff – Robbins Centre in London.

She enjoys collaborating with scientists and visual artists; several of her pieces have included electronic elements, and often incorporate natural and other environmental sounds in her music. She has written a number of Music Theatre pieces, notably The Orford Merman (1989) and Hope’s Perpetual Breath (1993, Purcell Room). In 2003, Metier Records released Sacred Physic: a CD of five of her major compositions.

She has been Composer in Residence on three occasions: first in 2002 to the Colchester Youth Chamber Orchestra; then in 2004 to the George Watts Museum in Compton, Surrey for the centenary celebrations, working with Timothy West and Prunella Scales. Most exciting of all was a year working with a number of departments at the University of Central Lancashire, including the Music and the Astronomy departments, on a series of events to mark the 2012 Transit of Venus. Her wind duet was played live throughout the Transit event itself, in the Church in Much Hoole where Jeremiah Horrocks first observed the Transit in 1639. The performance was uploaded to a NASA satellite in real time worldwide transmission throughout the night.

Since 1980 she has published her music, in partnership with Welsh composer Enid Luff; under the name Primavera Music UK. In addition, six of her solo chamber pieces have been on Examination Syllabuses, including A Reed in the Wind (oboe); three of these were commissioned for Faber’s Unbeaten Tracks series.

Biography taken from Colchester New Music.
Photo courtesy of Colchester Institute.