press
as a singer
Con Voce (Theater am Gleis, Winterthur)
(In) Susanne Stelzenbach’s “vis-à-vis", which… operates through an audio tape, … Julia Schwartz did a wonderful job of performing a bizarre dialogue with her synthetic counterpart, naturally without words. (Marc Hoppler in the Winterthurer Landbote, Feb. 24th, 2009)
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Eine kleine Sehnsucht / transl.: A Little Longing – Berlin Chansons (Andelfingen)
Julia Schwartz’s female figures… are heartfelt, passionate, at times portrayed as almost nerve-rackingly emotional. Her performance relies less on gestures and more on her impressive voice. We catch on to these women’s every impulse: the passing fancies of young girls, the mourning of losses suffered a few years later and the anger directed towards the ugliness of existence in general and the world of men in particular still another few years down the road. (sm in the Andelfinger Zeitung, Nov. 1st, 2006)
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Nur die Haltung darfst du nicht verlieren: Kurzweil mit Kurt Weill / transl.: As Long As You Don’t Lose Your Poise: Kurzweil with Kurt Weill (Thurgauer Theater Festival, Bürglen)
On Sunday evening, the pianist (Dyanne Potter Vögtlin) and both singers (Franziska Bolli and Julia Schwartz) constituted an ensemble whose harmony and interplay could not have been more perfect and affectionate. Fittingly “in a time that spares no time to remember yesterday”, as Kurt Weill’s wife Lotte Lenya once wrote. (Dieter Langhard in the Thurgauer Zeitung, Nov. 11th, 2003)
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Spuren / transl.: Traces (Frauenfeld)
In Heiter Villa-Lobos’ suite Cristina Ungureanu and Julia Schwartz painted scenes of rural Brazil. As if strumming on a mandolin, Cristina Ungureanu accompanied the soprano’s onomatopoeic staccatos with concluding vigor… (Emanuel Helg in the Thurgauer Zeitung, June 3rd, 2002)
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as a composer
Close to Nearby by Octarine Sky, Julia's piece VII (CD track)
with Dyanne Potter Voegtlin - piano, keys, vocals and Jan Christiana, bass
featuring Simon Phillips - drums and Guthrie Govan - guitar
...the insistent “VII” shifts the paradigm even further to return to the recital format and drench the ivories and skins interplay in tectonic dynamics before Guthrie’s wild electric licks kick in again. (Dmitry M. Epstein on dmme.net, Nov. 18th, 2021)
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More reviews of VII in English and French
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Concert with Trio Dacor (Elgg)
The Trio… used the many playing techniques at their disposal to perform the most current piece on the program – the first performance of a piece by Julia Schwartz… Like a parade, like a procession the piece developed out of a slow rhythm that gradually increased, became more robust and often expanded the musical line of the bass. The title “Shifting Accents” can allude to the trio as a whole as well as the individual instruments. Ich would have liked to hear this short, impactful piece a second time… (Peter Sieber in the Elgger/Aadorfer Zeitung, March 25th, 2014)
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Von Flammen verzehrt, den Kühen verfüttert / transl.: Consumed by Flames, Fed to the Cows (Frauenfeld)
This electronic music appears experimental and seems to hint at Karoline von Günterrode’s fate itself and its inexplicability through modern sound. The live voice symbolizes the individual, the person Karoline von Günterrode. This poet’s inner conflict, or better yet, her emotional range was way ahead of her time. Woman, man, or person? “Today, Günterrode would be considered a transsexual”, says Julia Schwartz. Her composition (Grösser denn diese Welt) is intense and at times disconcertingly explores Günderrode’s psychological abyss, testifying to an intense and empathetic engagement with the works of an unrecognized literary figure whose life ended through suicide at only 26 years of age in 1806. With her collage of speech, sung vocals, complementary electronic sounds and slides of pictures from Günderrode’s life Julia Schwartz succeeds in painting a striking portrait that inspires listeners to further explore this poet. (Martin Preisser in the Thurgauer Zeitung, June 23rd, 2012)
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Music by Living American Composers (San Francisco, USA)
(Baritone Randal Turner) is an emotive actor.... He made an entire play out of Julia Schwartz's Don Juan at Forty. At one point he wandered into the audience, looking for seducible women, until he was called back by a discreet cough from his pianist. In another theatrical moment, he tore off his tie & jacket in frustration. At the scene's despairing end, all the lights were cut, leaving the room in darkness. Mr. Turner was well-supported by pianist Allen Perriello whose playing is crisp & alert. One feels that he is a reliable accompanist. The composer was present, & she took a bow with Mr. Turner & Mr. Perriello. (Alex Feldheim's blog in Not for Fun Only: Fun & Enlightenment in San Francisco, nffo.blogspot.com, July 12th, 2010)
Concert at the Konzertgemeinde Frauenfeld (Frauenfeld)
The second debut performance of the evening, the five-minute composition “Aus den Schatten” (transl.: Out of the Shadows) by Frauenfeld resident Julia Schwartz, presented itself with a fresh, playful flair. Sallow parallel fifths between the clarinet and cello create a mysterious atmosphere, whose archaic undertones are reinforced by multiple reoccurrences of the beginning theme, the Gregorian sequence “Victimae paschali laudes”. Sporadic splashes of sound, entire color palettes loosen themselves from the general soundscape for a brief time, and the clarinet lines and cello cantilenas call attention to themselves. A big acceleration along with an increasing density of sound lead to the surprising finish. (Angelus Hux on Avalon Trio’s performance in the Thurgauer Zeitung, April 24th, 2006)
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Pilzkunde / transl.: The science of mushrooms (Frauenfeld)
The “15 Vignettes” for piano by Julia Schwartz… (are) varied and focused sound impressions. In her other chamber music works the composer, a dual citizen of Switzerland and the USA, born in 1963 and living in Frauenfeld, demonstrated great understanding of instrumental interaction, through which human fundamentals are reflected virtuosically. (Herbert Büttiker on the joint project Pilzkunde with Frédéric Bolliin the Landbote, Nov. 22nd, 2002)
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in the theatre
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Freedom Papers
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(article in German)
(article in German)
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Fragile Fragmente Frida / transl.: Fragile Fragments Frida (Konstanz)
Four dancers (Brigitte Krauss, Muriel Class, Sarah Frank und Sylvie Roth) embody Frida’s many facets through their dissimilarities. Julia Schwartz’s melodious singing alternates with shrill, steely phases of percussion that saw away on strings as they would on our nerves. The dancer twists to the music, tussles Frida’s hair in distraught anger at her unfulfilled wish to have children and presents the inside of her wrist to the audience. The end of the piece proclaims “Viva la vida”, tragically and yet conciliatorily, just like the end of Frida’s life – a still life of bright, red and green melons released to the enthusiastic audience for consumption after the shrill end note. (Nina Weimer in the Südkurier, July 28th, 2009)
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Böse Mütter / transl. Evil Mothers (Kreuzlingen)
Julia Schwartz’s music (she sings suggestively down into the courtyard) lends the theatre piece a subtle flow. And that children’s songs can be so menacingly evil when mothers imitate them is something the audience learns as well. Just like the recipe for filled peppers in the narrative, the scene collage is brimming with spice. (Martin Preisser in the Tagblatt, Sept. 13th, 2004)
Photo Arthur Häberli