MUSE • Musicians United for Social Equity

Biography

Originally from Uniondale, New York, first-generation Filipino-American Jay Julio  (b. 1997, they/them) is a multi-instrumentalist, teacher, and composer-arranger based in NYC. Jay is the Viola / Violin III chair on Hamilton (Angelica tour), Assistant Principal Violist of the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra, and substitute violist with orchestras such as the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the American Composers Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony. Recent solo appearances include concerto performances with the Ocala Symphony, the Marquette Symphony, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. 

They have shared the stage with Broadway singers, pop stars, and classical music’s hottest young talents in performances from Washington D.C. to the Philippines, and can be heard on violin and viola on Parma, Nonesuch, and Broadway Records, including the 2025 Grammy Award-nominated release The Blind Banister. They appeared in the official collaborative music video for Major Lazer & Marcus Mumford’s single, Lay Your Head On Me, released as a fundraiser for COVID-19 research efforts, performed with Nigerian artist Burna Boy in his Hollywood Bowl debut, and have played behind Audra McDonald on Carnegie Hall’s Great Artists series.

Jay has performed at the Music Academy of the West, Orpheus@Mannes, the New York String Orchestra Seminar and the Cabrillo, Aspen, Pacific, Thy, Spoleto and Lake Tahoe music festivals; they have also spent summers at the Yellow Barn Young Artists Program and the National Symphony Orchestra’s Summer Music Institute as a Young Artist of Color. They have served as a Teaching Fellow at the Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program and as substitute viola & chamber music faculty at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division. They have coached the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles, have been on faculty at the Stony Brook University Chamber Strings Camp, and hold teaching positions at the Interlochen Center for the Arts Viola Intensive and Midori and Friends.

A prizewinner in national competitions held by the National Federation of Music Clubs and the Music Teachers National Association and recipient of a 2019 Juilliard Career Grant, Jay is indebted to the Virtu Foundation and the American Viola Society for their past support through instrument and bow loans. They were recipient of a 2020 Music Academy of the West Fast Pitch Award to start music-meets-prison-analysis organization Sound Off: Music for Bail, which was awarded a 2021 Juilliard School Career Grant, a 2022 YoungArts Foundation Creative Microgrant, a 2022 + 2024 Puffin Foundation Grant, a 2023 Surdna Foundation Thriving Cultures Sponsorship, a 2023 New Music USA Organizational Fund Grant, a 2023 Copland Fund Grant, and 2024 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Manhattan Arts and Upper Manhattan Economic Zone Grants before they stepped down from leadership in 2024 to focus on touring.

After taking their first viola lesson at age 14 at the Mannes Preparatory Division, Jay graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy at 16 studying with Renee Skerik with their highest musical honor, the Young Artist Award, received their BM in Viola Performance from the Manhattan School of Music under Karen Ritscher on full scholarship, and received their MM at the Juilliard School on a full-tuition Susan W. Rose Fellowship under the tutelage of Heidi Castleman and Misha Amory. Other important mentors include Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti and Lina Bahn. For rhythm, Jay studies poetry.

They are a proud member of AFM Locals 77 and 802, the Justice Committee, and the IWW.