Julia Perry

Who was Julia Perry?

Julia Amanda Perry was an African-American composer of classical music.

Born in Lexington, Kentucky, Perry studied voice, piano and composition at the Westminster Choir College 1943-48 and came to prominence as a result of a scholarship to the Berkshire Music Center where she was a student of Luigi Dallapiccola. She later traveled to Florence to continue her music studies with Dallapiccola and afterwards to France to study under Nadia Boulanger. Whilst in Europe, Perry lectured for the United States Information Service and planned as well as conducted a series of critically acclaimed concerts. She was named a Guggenheim fellow in 1954.

Her musical style was primarily neoclassical and she wrote a great deal of music during her relatively short life and career. Her works include the Stabat Mater of 1951, several symphonies and the opera The Cask of Amontillado.