Dark Velvet Julija Hartig

• Isodora Žebeljan (1967 - 2020), Veljko Nenadić: ‘Dark velvet’ for violin and piano (2006/2021):
• 1 Žebeljan, Nenadić: ‘Dark velvet’ for violin and piano (2006/2021) 05:11
• Tibor Hartig: ‘Monolog’ for solo violin (1993):
• 2 Hartig: ‘Monolog’ for solo violin (1993) 06:13
• Calliope Tsoupaki (b. 1963): ‘A song for Isidora’ (2020):
• 3 Tsoupaki: ‘A song for Isidora’ (2020) 04:00
• Isodora Žebeljan: ‘Oh, Die, My Love’, song for violin, female voice and piano (2011):
• 4 Žebeljan: ‘Oh, Die, My Love’, song for violin, female voice and piano (2011) 03:23
• Rudolf Bruči (1917 - 2002): ‘Guslarska’ for solo violin (1993):
• 5 Bruči: ‘Guslarska’ for solo violin (1993) 05:22
• Aleksandra Vrebalov (b. 1970): ‘Constellation Hartig’ for violin and prepared piano (2021):
• 6 Vrebalov: ‘Constellation Hartig’ for violin and prepared piano (2021) 13:55
• Tibor Hartig: ‘Dijalozi’ for violin and cello (1990):
• 7 Hartig: ‘Dijalozi’ for violin and cello (1990): I. Allegro 02:12
• 8 Hartig: ‘Dijalozi’ for violin and cello (1990): II. Molto Moderato 02:48
• 9 Hartig: ‘Dijalozi’ for violin and cello (1990): III. Allegro Moderato 03:02
• Veljko Nenadić: ‘Air & Riffs’ diptych for violin and piano (2022):
• 10 Nenadić: ‘Air & Riffs’ diptych for violin and piano (2022) 05:44
• Juan Filipe Waller (b. 1971): ‘De Jaque, Sal, Gala y Luna’ for solo violin (1997):
• 11 Waller: ‘De Jaque, Sal, Gala y Luna’ for solo violin (1997) 08:41
• Florian Magnus Maier (b. 1973): ‘The Music of Erich Zann’ for solo violin (2022):
• 12 Maier: ‘The Music of Erich Zann’ for solo violin (2022) 10:52
• Total Runtime 01:11:23

Info for Dark Velvet

This album can be seen as an autobiographical story. It is a reflection of my Yugoslav and Dutch identity described in 10 pieces by 8 composers. All of these pieces have their unique musical language and way of expressing thoughts and feelings. From pure honest most tender love to the unearthly sounds in search of answers. Some of them speak about deep sorrow of loss, passionate greed for love and life, brutally distorted decomposed beauty or simply pure wild untamed joy. One thing that is common to all of them is that they were written or arranged for me with a deep understanding of my way of playing which is always intense, honest and expressive. I love them all like my children and enjoy watching them grow. In addition to the selection of already composed music from 1990 on, three new works were written for me, especially as a part of this project.

Julija Hartig, violin, vocals
Reineke Broekhans, piano
Maj Bogdanovic, cello

Julija Hartig
Born to a family of musicians, Julija started her first violin lessons at the age of five. As a young talent, she won prizes such as the Festival of Music Schools of Serbia and the Competition of Young Interpreters of Yugoslavia.

After finishing her studies of violin at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad (Yugoslavia), she was engaged as an assistant professor in the class of her former teacher Evgenia Tchugaeva at the same conservatory.

Since 1994, Julija lives in The Netherlands, where she studied at the Conservatory of Rotterdam with professor Ilya Grubert and the Conservatory of Utrecht with professor Keiko Wataya where she graduated with Cum Laude.

As a soloist, she performed with various orchestras such as The Symphony Orchestra of the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad (Yugoslavia), Chamber Orchestra “Camerata Academica” Novi Sad, Belgrade Strings, St Georges Strings, Radio Symphony Orchestra of Serbia, Brabants Kamer Orkest, The Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic. She has given recitals and chamber music concerts in Yugoslavia, Russia, The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Australia, and Brazil.

She participated on international festivals such as The Summer Festival in Dubrovnik, Barka festival of music from formal Yugoslavia in Amsterdam, The Grachten Festival in Amsterdam, November Music in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, En Plein Public in Breda, Peter de Grote festival in Groningen, Festival MiTo - Italy, International Chamber music festival Joao Pessoa - Brazil.

Julija’s repertoire includes pieces from baroque to contemporary music. Her interpretations are characterized by a great expressivity and temperament, refined technique, and a warm sensitivity for color. Her exciting way of playing often led to mutually inspiring collaboration with contemporary composers. Several pieces have been written for and premiered by her.

“Operator” by Florian Maier, written for The Dutch Radio Chamber Philharmonic and violin soloist Julija Hartig, conducted by Micha Hamel on the Dutch Music Days 2009 in October in the Muziekgebouw aan't IJ, Amsterdam, won a recommendation for worldwide broadcast by more than 30 radio stations in Unesco's 2010 Rostrum of Composers.

She recorded for CD labels in the Netherlands and Yugoslavia. In 2010 RTS (Radio Television Serbia) issued 4 CDs of complete works by Ljubica Maric, a composer and artist with whom she had a very close connection, where all the solo violin and chamber music repertoire written by this composer is performed by her.

With a pianist Reineke Broekhans, she formed a Duo Hartig-Broekhans which won a prize on an International Chamber Music Competition “Gaetano Zinetti” 2004.

Since 2003 she is a member of the virtuoso ensemble The Hungry Gods. With this unique ensemble she has been active in interdisciplinary projects such as film and theatre.

ROctet, the only string octet of The Netherlands, is another ensemble in which Julija is a member since 2016. She is also one of the business managers of this ensemble.

Julija is one of the founding members of Splendor Amsterdam, a new creative podium in Amsterdam - winner of the Amsterdam Cultural prize in 2015. She is also one of the initiators of the LUDWIG collective that won the GRAMMY award with their first CD with Barbara Hannigan in 2018.

Since 2000 she is a member of the Dutch Radio Orchestra. Currently, she is a member of the first violin section of The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.

Julija Hartig plays a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume violin (“Ex-Zimmermann”), which is part of the Dutch National Musical Instrument Foundation, The Netherlands.

Booklet for Dark Velvet