Resumé

• 2007 General contract for the publication of collected works with Norsk Musikforlag, Oslo, Norway
• 2007 CD “Jetzt Wohin?” – New Songs to poems by Heinrich Heine, commissioned by the Culture Foundation of the Landkreis Mainz-Bingen, Germany
• 2007 Premiere Concert, World Music ensemble “Asavari” Bingen, Germany
• 2006 CD "Out of the Stillness", compositions to the visions of Hildegard von Bingen, commissioned by the city of Bingen, Germany
• 2006 CD "Colors of the Soul", Classical Ragas of North India
• 2006 Premiere of Waterfalls, Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra, Warsaw, Poland
• 2006 Concerts / Workshops, Crossdrumming Festival, Warsaw, Poland
• 2006 Feature Interview, Perqsja, Percussion Journal, Poland
• 2006 Concert of Music for solo marimba by Julie Spencer, presented by Marimbist Marumi Akita, Hakuju Hall, Tokyo, Japan
• 2005 CD "Ecstatic Sunlight", Music for Marimba
• 2004 Cover Story, Japan Percussion Center Magazine, Tokyo, Japan
• 2004 Commission by the Japan Percussion Society with premiere concerts for the Japan Percussion Festival, with ensembles in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka
• 2003 moves to Germany, freelance work
• 2003 Subject of doctoral thesis entitled "The Grateful Marimbist – Spencer Technique and the Marimba Music of Julie Spencer", by Eric Middleton, University of Texas at Austin
• 2002 premieres of compositions for Ensemble Colored Fish, Lewis & Clark College, Oregon, USA
• 2002 "Kassandra" – Mixed Choir, commissioned by the Oregon Repertory Singers, Portland, USA
• 2001 performance at the Princeton Marimba Festival, Princeton University, USA, with Gernot Blume
• 98-03 performances as percussionist among others with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Ballet Orchestra, Third Angle New Music Ensemble, and Portland Opera Orchestra, USA
• 2000 CD "Lost and Found" with Gernot Blume, Ensemble "Colored Fish"
• 1998 performance at the Keyboard Mallet Festival, Berklee College of Music, Boston, USA, with Gernot Blume
• 2001 premiere of "Soulhouse Weep", for Percussion Quintet, Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, USA
• 2000 Publication of "The Unbooks" Collections of Short Compositions for Improvisation, with Gernot Blume
• 1998 Guest Composer for Composers‘ Forum, University of North Texas, All the Arts Festival
• 95-98 adjunct faculty for marimba, University of Michigan, USA
• 1995 CD "Changes Inside" with Gernot Blume
• 1994 Video: Ensemble "Common Ground", concert at the international conference of the Percussive Arts Society, Atlanta, USA
• 1994 Marimba soloist with the Glendale Symphony Orchestra under direction of Lalo Schifrin, Dorothy Chandler Pavillion, Los Angeles, USA
• 1994 National Endowment for the Arts, fellowship in Jazz composition, USA
• 90-94 Adjunct faculty for marimba, California Institute of the Arts, USA
• 1992 CD: "Ask", Music by Julie Spencer, Interworld Music, USA
• 1992 Premiere of Compositions for Ensemble Colored Fish, Japan American Theatre, Los Angeles, for the L.A. Philharmonic Green Umbrella Series
• 1991 Premiere of Compositions for World Music Ensemble and solo Marimba, international conference of the Percussive Arts Society, Los Angeles, USA
• 1990 Premieres of Compositions for large Jazz Ensemble, International Association of Jazz Educators Convention, New Orleans, USA
• 1990 Master of Fine Arts Diploma, (Jazz composition, World Music) California Institute of the Arts, USA
• 1987 Performances/Workshops at Academie de Percussion, Saint Sauves, France
• 1986 Performer’s Certificate, Eastman School of Music, Rochester, USA
• 1986 Premiere Performances of works for Solo Marimba, international conference of the Percussive Arts Society, Washington D.C., USA
• 1986 Performances/Workshops, University of Toronto, Canada
• 1985 Premiere Performances of works for Solo Marimba, international conference of the Percussive Arts Society, Los Angeles
• 1985 Workshops at the Eastman School, Indiana University, California Institute of the Arts, University of Michigan, and a residency at the University of Arizona, Tucson
• 1985 Bachelor of Music, (Percussion), Eastman School of Music, Rochester, USA

Musician and composer Julie Spencer is internationally known as a virtuoso artist on her main instrument, the marimba. Her work encompasses a concerto for marimba and percussion ensemble commissioned by the Japan Percussion Society, a choral work for the Oregon Repertory Singers, as well as numerous scores for solos, ensembles, and orchestras.

She appeared in countless concerts in Europe, North America, and Japan. Amongst other prizes she was awarded fellowship of the American National Endowments for the Arts, the national arts trust of the United States. She earned a Bachelor of Music diploma and the award „Performer’s Certificate from the famous American conservatory „Eastman School of Music”, and another diploma (Master of Fine Arts) from the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles.

Following her studies she taught from 1990 until 1994 at the California Institute of the Arts and from 1995 bis 1998 at the University of Michigan. From 1998 until 2003 she resided in Portland, Oregon, where she worked as a freelance percussionist with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra. Since 2003 she lives in Bingenb on the rhine, Germany, together with her husband Gernot Blume, and their two children, Avi Béla and Amienne Monet.

So far nine different cds have been created under her name, and in collaboration with Gernot Blume:

"Jetzt Wohin?" (2007), "Out of the Stillness" (2006), "Colors of the Soul" (2006), "Griot" (2006), "Ecstatic Sunlight" (2005), "Harp Travels" (2004), "Lost and Found" (2000), "Changes Inside" (1995), "Ask" (1992) and a Live-Concert video "Common Ground" (1994).

She has been invited repeatedly to the international conventions of the Percussive Arts Society and her marimba repertoire, played by percussionists all over the world, has been published since 1993 by her own label, Spencer Blume Publishing.

Starting in 2007, her collected works are published and distributed by Norsk Musikkforlag in Oslo, Norway.