SHORT BIO
Gloria Justen, Violinist and Composer, is both a passionate performer of the classics and an innovative artist trying new approaches to music. Ms. Justen grew up in Houston, Texas, and from 1984-1990 she attended the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Her principal violin teachers were Fredell Lack and Szymon Goldberg. Currently residing in San Francisco, Gloria is dividing her time between East Coast and West Coast.
Ms. Justen has played with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia since 1985, serving as Concertmaster since 2004. From 1990 to 2008 she performed and toured internationally with the Philadelphia Orchestra as a substitute violinist. She is associated with groups in Philadelphia and San Francisco such as Network for New Music, Orchestra 2001, the Relache Ensemble, the Empyrean Ensemble, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and the magic*magic orchestra, and she has premiered and recorded many works by living composers. She has toured with the Philip Glass Ensemble for the Book of Longing project. Ms. Justen has enjoyed collaborations with musicians from diverse backgrounds, modern dancers and visual artists. Improvisation in various genres spurred her to create her own compositions. Some of these are written in the traditional manner for acoustic instruments, and others are digital sound collages incorporating electronics, field recordings, and surround sound concepts. Her first CD of original music, Four-Stringed Voice, is a collection of pieces for solo violin. Most recently her composition "Not Created or Destroyed" was performed by the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra.
MORE DETAILED BIO
Gloria Justen, Violinist and Composer, is both a passionate performer of the classics and an innovative artist trying new approaches to music.
Ms. Justen grew up in Houston, Texas, and from 1984-1990 she attended the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Her principal violin teachers were Fredell Lack and Szymon Goldberg. Currently residing in San Francisco, Gloria is dividing her time between East Coast, West Coast, and touring internationally with the Philip Glass Ensemble.
Ms. Justen has played with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia for over twenty years, serving as Concertmaster since 2004. She has also performed and toured internationally with the Philadelphia Orchestra as a substitute violinist. A frequent performer with contemporary music groups, she has premiered and recorded many works by living composers. In Philadelphia she often plays with new music groups such as Network for New Music, Orchestra 2001, and the Relache Ensemble; and in San Francisco groups with whom she is associated as performer and composer include the Empyrean Ensemble, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and the Magik*Magik Orchestra. She performed Tan Dun's Water Passion According to St. Matthew in Australia and Germany. In 2007 she premiered Romanza, for Solo Violin and Chamber Orchestra by Andrea Clearfield with Orchestra 2001, which will be released as a live recording, as well as being released in a studio-recorded version. Beginning in 2008 she has been touring with the Philip Glass Ensemble for the Book of Longing project, going to Italy, Hungary, Greece, Australia, and Taiwan.
Through collaborations with musicians from diverse backgrounds, as well as with modern dancers and choreographers, her musical horizons have expanded beyond the usual limits of the classical European-American tradition. Improvisation and collaboration in various genres led her to create her own compositions. Some compositions are written in the traditional manner for acoustic instruments, and other pieces are sound collages created on computer which include electronics, field recordings, and surround sound concepts. Ms. Justen is a self-taught composer and user of Pro Tools digital technology.
Ms. Justen has been a regular performer at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. She was a member of improvisational groups which created music for choreographers Myra Bazell (SCRAP Performance group) and Manfred Fischbeck (Group Motion Dance Company). Her ongoing collaboration with electronic composer Peter Price explores the possibilities of violin-computer triggering, as well as a process of interactive composition using live sampling, looping and Max/MSP. This duo has created music for several pieces by choreographer Megan Bridge. In September, 2006, she presented a 45 minute compilation of her own electronic music in a 24-speaker surround-sound immersion performance called "The Movie is in Your Mind."
Ms. Justen’s composition Zephyr, for Solo Violin, Strings, and Percussion was premiered by the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia in 2001, with her as soloist. She performed her unaccompanied violin solo Night in the Roof Garden at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts Solstice Celebration 2003. This was enhanced by hallucinogenic projected images of flowers and of the rooftop garden which inspired the piece. Her CD of solo violin compositions, entitled Four-Stringed Voice, is ready to be released in December 2008.
Justen has done string recording sessions for many well-known popular artists and for movie soundtracks. Other projects: she performed in composer/bassist Michael Formanek's jazz string quartet project in Baltimore, and she collaborated with electronic producer/guitarist Tim Motzer on a piece inspired by Salvador Dali which was performed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She contributed violin improvisations to the collaborative music/poetry project Secret Voices: No Time For Silence, released on Motzer's label, 1krecordings.
As well as working with sound as a medium, Gloria also channels her creative and explorative energy into poetry, photography,wearable art design, and physical movement. In the future she plans to combine several of these media, including sound, in installation projects.
Justen has released a CD of original music for solo violin entitled Four-Stringed Voice.
Most recently her composition "Not Created or Destroyed" was performed by the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra.