Assistant Professor, Performing Arts Technology, School of Music Theatre & Dance
About
Julie Zhu is a composer, artist, and carillonist. Technology – from artificial intelligence to live sound processing, sensors, and virtual reality – often support her work, which seeks to reveal and amplify underlying mathematical structures and gentle noises through innovative intermedia instrumentation and diverse chamber experiences.
Her music has been featured on Radio France’s Création Mondiale and at various institutions such as GMEM Festival Propagations Marseille, IRCAM Paris, ICST Zürich, Sansusī Latvia, Tetramatyka Lviv, Carnegie Hall, among others.
Zhu’s research on music and AI focuses on the project Deep Drawing, which tests the machine’s capabilities for bringing the intricate noises of drawing and writing to visual life. Other long term projects include Talking Pupils, a VR Opera centered on the experience of the visually impaired, and the Bell Resonator, a device to sustain the sound of the bell.
As a carillonist, Zhu regularly performs on the Burton and Lurie Tower at the University of Michigan and concertizes in the summer. During her time as a visual artist in New York City, she was the resident carillonneur at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue.
