Juliann Ma

Wildlife Explorer ℘ Performing Artist ℘ Teacher

Global Voices: Cambridge

at park @Shady Hill Square
3 June 2023, 3p.

Wildlife Explorer ℘ Performing Artist ℘ Teacher

“Music is the awakening of our planet’s vibrations in the soul” Juliann Ma

Taiwanese-American artist Juliann Ma awakens the soul through interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, collaborative projects. The founder and artistic director of award-winning collective and initiative Sustainable Environment through the Arts & Sciences, she collaborates with diverse scientists and artists to unearth new understandings about our global climate crisis and ignite vital reconnection to our planet. From open panels with scientists to immersive performances, films, and exhibitions, S E A S has graced spaces as Carnegie Hall, Consulat général de France à New York, Heritage Space, and The New School, and released several debut works Rise, Awaken and Isostasy via YouTube. Today, partnering sustainability advocates including U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Chasing Coral, New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance, MIT Media Lab’s Open Ocean, Caroga Lake Inter-Arts Symposium, and Asian American Arts Alliance Juliann contributes regularly to public discussions, biodiversity conservation, and other efforts concerning ecological ethics, and encourages all to consider the vital roles we can each play on the journey towards environmental sustainability.

A citizen-artist, Juliann brightens her communities through eclectic roles. In addition to her services as a Gluck Fellow (New York City) and contributions as a Fulbright Scholar (Paris, France), she has taught music at Avenues: The World School, creative writing at Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies, and created and led collaborative arts courses and programs at Stanford University. She is a returning Speaker and Teaching Artist at Caroga Lake Music Festival, as well as multidisciplinary performer and stage manager at Silkroad Global Musician Workshop. Today, she offers music lessons and masterclasses worldwide through ToneRow, Music-Ally, and maintains her private piano studio in Cambridge, MA. As a certified Iyengar yoga instructor with training in Alexander Technique, music psychology (courtesy of Dr. Noa Kageyama, Juilliard), and and a variety of breath techniques (including Wim Hof Method), Juliann also shares a unique yoga practice that restores and supports healthy breathing and natural bodily alignment and movement. Her yoga studio is open for group class, private sessions, and breath workshops, in-person in Cambridge, MA and worldwide via Zoom.

As a musician, Juliann continues to widen her reach and scope beyond single genres—and instruments—blending her innate Western classical piano chops with traditional sounds and tunes from across Asia, Arabic and nordic landscapes, American jazz, as well as her own designs (composition, improvisations, and arrangements) through her voice, synths, and dizi. Her current musical focus involves creating an album of original songs and arranged folk tunes with her world music quintet: “As Am I: Asian American Immigrant Songs and Stories,” offering personal stories, compositions, and connection with community, to overcome the violence against AAPI communities that has risen since the pandemic. Her own world music concert, workshop, and jam series, Global Voices, will launch its first mini concert series outdoors this summer with support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and Cambridge Arts Porgram.

Juliann Ma completed her studies at Stanford University, École Normale de Musique de Paris ‘Alfred Cortot’, The Juilliard School, and The New School. For her contributions to the humanities and creative arts, she received Stanford University’s Robert M. Golden Medal, the Marin Alsop Entrepreneurship Award, Father Merlet and Pro Musicis International Awards. Her piano performances and masterclasses have taken her across the U.S. and Caribbean, Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Highlights include Stanford Bing Concert Hall, Konzertsaal Bundesallee, Carnegie Hall, Salle Cortot, Dôme de Grandes Écuries Chantilly, Herbst Theater, Hitachi Systems Hall Sendai, Jordan Hall, Louis K. Meisel Gallery, Three Palms Montego Bay, Schoenberg Center, WQXR, and Yamaha Artists Services New York.

A lifelong student, Juliann continues to learn from mentors, colleagues, her own students, friends, and family. Among her deeply supportive network, Juliann attributes her artistic roots especially to her mother, her first teacher. She thanks her father for sparking her interest in investigative journalism, her brothers for instilling an entrepreneurial and activist spirit, and her friends for encouraging her bent for adventure and deep dive into cultures around the world.

For inspiration, Juliann enjoys spending time in nature. In addition to filmmaking and photography, she is a committed ‘Zero Waste’ citizen and dedicated volunteer with wildlife rescue organizations. She is currently researching towards her projects : ‘AsAmI’, ‘Aloha ‘Aina’, ‘Looking through the Ecoglass’, ‘Disappearing Forest’, and Listening to the Sea’, and enjoys hosting monthly music jams and gatherings for colleagues, patrons, and friends.

You are invited to attend one of Juliann’s upcoming events, or contact her directly!

Notable Work

Une barque sur l’océan

From Maurice Ravel’s Miroirs, an evocation of the ocean performed by Juliann Ma.

Zourouni

Arabic classic by Sayed Darwich and Mohamad Younes Al Kadi, performed with Abeer Nehme

S E A S

Sustainable Environment through the Arts & Sciences initiative awakens the world to the global climate crisis through creative interface between community, environment, research, art, and education. Led by Juliann, the team molds immersive experiences that relay stories from around the world, through the eyes of those impacted. Rise, Awaken with S E A S…

Lan Hua Hua

Northern Chinese tune, performed with Wu Man

Peanuts Gallery

Peanuts Gallery Piano Concerto: an original theater production animating Charles Schulz’s comic strips through the musical genius of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and collaborative improvisations by the interdisciplinary cast.

More performances

Video and audio of Juliann’s solo performances, her collaborations, and her projects.

Concerts & Gatherings

Upcoming

Notable

Featured Photographs

A larger collection of photography from Juliann’s performances and gatherings is featured in her photo gallery.

Press & Reviews

Originally published by Rorianne Schrade for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

A noteworthy recital debut occurred last Thursday, that of excellent pianist Juliann Ma, under the auspices of the Pro Musicis organization. Pro Musicis, founded in 1965, has for decades had a track record of presenting outstanding and communicative young artists in both conventional venues and community service concerts. Their roster has had such an illustrious array of musicians that it is impossible to select just a few names (but one can visit www.promusicis.org to learn more). Whether the Pro Musicis magic is more in their choosing of exceptional talent or in their nurturing of it through concerts and outreach may be up for debate – surely a mixture of both – but, in any case, they continue to thrive. Juliann Ma, their 2016 addition to the roster, provided ample evidence of that at her recital. (excerpt. Read entire review.)

Please contact Juliann for a press kit or to arrange press passes for her events.

Contact Juliann Ma

Piano/ Yoga instruction

Juliann offers personalized curricula to piano and yoga students of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels. Her studios are based in Cambridge, MA. Please contact her to arrange for private lessons or a meet and greet! Remote lessons can be arranged and conducted via ToneRow (music), and Zoom (yoga).

Email

For any professional inquiries including performances, collaboration, instruction, or if you would like to support her work.

Stay in Touch

Juliann has a YouTube channel and a Calendar feed of her public events. If you would like to support Juliann’s work via donation, your gift would go toward furthering her projects!

Thank you for your energy in shaping our planet Juliann