Music is sound. Sound that is induced by movement and conducted through space in all directions as waves.
This is what inspires me in my work as a baroque cellist, composer and artistic director.
Education:
At the age of 5, Julia Kursawe took her own initiative for musical training. However, she didn’t start playing the cello until she was 17. After graduating from high school, she studied and received diplomas at the HfM Dresden and the UdK Berlin for modern cello and baroque cello / early music. Her teachers were Eduard Weissmann (DSO Berlin), Prof. Ernst Ludwig Hammer, Ramon Jaffé, Prof. Ludger Rémy, Prof. Phoebe Carrai, Markus Möllenbeck, Lynn Harrel, Prof. Peter Bruns and Heidi Gröger.
She has been intensively involved in body work since 2006; specifically with the Feldenkrais method, Heinrich Jacoby teachings and Aikido (3rd Dan Aikikai Tokyo 2018). In 2013 she completed her certified further training in music physiology at the Kurt-Singer-Institute in Berlin.
Teaching activity: Julia Kursawe has been teaching cello since 2006 and music physiology since 2013, e.g. at the State Music Academy of Sachsen-Anhalt, C.P.E.Bach Music High School Berlin, Goethe Center Santa Cruz Bolivia, Academy of Music Berlin, Thuringian Music School Forum, Music and Art Private University of the City of Vienna.
Cooperation: Julia Kursawe performs in various baroque orchestras like L’Arco Hannover, Göttingen -, Sächsisches -, Elbipolis – Baroque Orchestra, Concerto Brandenburg, Aris & Aulis and Lautten Compagney Berlin and in a wide variety of ensembles such as Trio Fado, Njamy Sitson Trio, O-Ton-Project, Siwan, Babylon Film Orchestra Berlin.
Ensemble & Foundings:
Together with the Hungarian harpsichordist and organist Márton Borsányi, Julia Kursawe founded the chamber ensemble baroque-e-motion in 2007. Concerts have taken the ensemble to the Budapest Baroque Festival 2008/2010, to the Musical Instrument Museum Berlin in 2018, to the Uckermärkische Musikwochen 2019 and to the Ulm Cathedral in 2024, among others.
In 2016, the ensemble Tres Morillas – Early Music of the Iberian Peninsula for soprano, percussion, lutes and historical string instruments was founded. Tres Morillas was funded by the Berlin Steglitz-Zehlendorf District Culture Fund in 2020 and by the Senate Department for Culture and Europe of the State of Berlin in 2021/23.
The Ensemble Samudra was formed in 2023 with Kerstin Linder-Dewan and Ravi Srinivasan, a collaboration between baroque violin, baroque cello and the historical Indian instrument tabla-tarang.
Artistic direction & interdisciplinary:
In 2015, Julia Kursawe began the ImPuls of the Suite series, in which she acts as artistic director, composer and cellist. Here, Julia Kursawe dedicates herself to her interest in bringing together music from different eras on historical instruments and contemporary dance in a new context. She uses the baroque cello and a historical cello piccolo for works from the 20th / 21st century, she rearranges them and works with beatboxing / live looping or the historical giant Großbasspommer. For the series, she composed works that use dance equally in the ensemble and developed a cello carrying system that allows her to play the cello piccolo freely while walking. The following productions have been made so far:
– Suite for cello and crinoline – a duet for cello and dancer with Irene Cortina González 2015, among other places at Uckermärkische Musikwochen and Stadtmuseum Berlin 2016, sponsored by the Goethe-Institut for a tour in Bolivia and to the German Book Fair in Santa Cruz 2017, Lechner Museum Ingolstadt 2017 , State Music Academy of Sachsen-Anhalt and Baroque Palace Rammenau 2019
– Suite transcription – for baroque cello, dance and Bach’s 3rd cello suite, a production by Julia Kursawe and Yui Kawaguchi 2017, among other places at Dock 11 Berlin and Castle Theatre Rheinsberg 2018
– Suite MINIMALE – baroque Capricci by Dall’Abaco and Minimal Music by Philip Glass, for baroque cello and dance in collaboration with Irene Cortina González, premiere at Theater im Delphi Berlin 2019, Baroque Palace Rammenau 2019
– SUITE CUBIC – Bach for baroque cello, beatbox and dance, in collaboration with Daniel Mandolini and Yui Kawaguchi, 2020 at Uferstudios Berlin, 2021 opening concerts of the #Freiraum initiative in the Konzerthaus Berlin and in Erfurt at the 20ff Festival / Thuringian Bach Weeks, 2022 funded by the Performing Arts Fund in the Villa Elisabeth Berlin and at the Young Ears Network, in 2023 in the extravagant venue Speicher Gramzow and 2024 at Tresor Einbeck
– Suite Ricercare – Ricercare from the early 16th century to 2022 for large bass Pomeranian / Dulcian, cello piccolo / baroque cello and contemporary dance, in collaboration with Adrian Rovatkay and Yui Kawaguchi, supported by the Senate Department for Culture and Europe of the State of Berlin, 2023 at Uferstudios Berlin and at Kunst im Mittelhof Uckermark, 2024 at Kunstraum Potsdam/Kulturfeste im Land Brandenburg, 2025 at Yenidze Theater Dresden
– The ImPuls of the Suite series was supported in 2022/23 with the ensemble scholarship from the Music Fund / Neustart Kultur. This artistic experiment was created, a virtual reality music video with the song Flow my tears from the 16th century by J. Dowland.
Composition:
With the ImPuls series of the suite, Julia Kursawe began arranging and composing music for historical instruments. It follows the baroque tradition, where creator and interpreter, including inventors of special instrument equipment, unite in one person.
She now also composes her own free works. She constantly pursues new questions and, with an experimental approach, she fundamentally incorporates movement as a fully-fledged instrument or the special sound properties of extraordinary, historical instruments into her work. In 2024, Julia Kursawe received composition commissions from the Vocalensemble Acanto and the girls‘ choir of the Singakademie zu Berlin.
Photo © Katja Strempel