Yulia Musayelyan was born in Moscow, Russia. She began her music studies at the age of 4 with Valeri Brainin, and later continued at the prestigious Gnessin School of Music.

She is a 2001 recipient of the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts Award. A versatile flutist in both classical and jazz idioms, Yulia has extensive experience playing Brazilian music, Argentinean folklore, and other South American folkloric styles as well as improvisation in all genres.

As a jazz flutist and improviser, Yulia has performed at the 2001 Montreux Jazz off-Festival in Switzerland, and IAJE conventions in New York and New Orleans. She has performed and recorded with artists of diverse genres such as Marta Gomez, Marta Topferova, Vardan Ovsepian Chamber Ensemble, and Hector Martignon Jazz Camerata. She has toured the US, UK, Europe, Central and South America with various musical projects.

Knowing the importance of the composer-performer interaction, Yulia has worked as a performer with numerous emerging composers, as well as established artists such as Michael Gordon, in realizing contemporary music projects. In 2005, she was a soloist with the TACTUS Contemporary Ensemble with guest conductor maestro Pierre Boulez in the performance of “L’explosante Fixe” for 3 flutes, ensemble, and electronics. Her original compositions appear in the 2006 independent short film Natalie Bonn. Her chamber works have been premiered at the Nemoy Thalia Theater at Symphony Space in New York City.

Yulia has recorded over 25 albums as sideman, and released her quartet’s debut album, ‘Caminos’, in 2009. She performs regularly with her quartet, ‘Tango meets Jazz’ project, MaCaYu Trio, Fernando Huergo Quintet, Manhattan Camerata, MOZIK, Brooklyn Orchestra and Gaia Wilmer Octet, among others.

Yulia holds a BM in flute performance from the Manhattan School of Music where she was a student of Marya Martin, as well as an MA in Performance and Composition from New York University, where she studied flute with Robert Dick and composition with Ira Newborn. In 2017, she joined the faculty of Berklee College of Music.

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