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JULIA HOUK is from San Jose, California and is currently a senior at Leland High
School. She has played piano for over 10 years. Born in a musical family, she started
piano in her middle school’s Jazz Band and violin in Chamber Orchestra and got to
experience performing in different venues, her favorite being performing inside
Disneyland parks. She began studying piano more intensely with her teacher Dr. Irina
Prilipko- Morgan where she got to develop her technical skills and musicality. Since then
she has competed in various piano competitions and festivals. She enjoys playing works
by Beethoven, Bach, Scriabin, Ginastera, Lecuana, and contemporary composers such as
Fazil Say. In June, 2014 she made her debut at Carnegie Hall in NY. She has had her
own piano studio for a couple years where she has been teaching young students piano
and violin. Apart from her musical side, Julia maintains a strong academic record and has
taken a total of 7 AP classes. Her favorite classes are Statistics, Biology, and Spanish
Language. She has been in the school’s speech and Debate team for three years where
she had an interest in Public Forum debate. In addition she was on the Track and Field
team, Badminton team, and has played soccer for numerous years. She loves volunteering
in the community; she taught at the elementary school’s band program, helped
underprivileged kids with public speaking, and helped in her Ukrainian community. Last
summer, she went to Guatemala with her church to help orphan kids as well as to do
various construction projects to help the village of Zacapa. In her free time she loves
going surfing, hiking, biking, and painting nature.
Awards:
2012
2013
2014
School. She has played piano for over 10 years. Born in a musical family, she started
piano in her middle school’s Jazz Band and violin in Chamber Orchestra and got to
experience performing in different venues, her favorite being performing inside
Disneyland parks. She began studying piano more intensely with her teacher Dr. Irina
Prilipko- Morgan where she got to develop her technical skills and musicality. Since then
she has competed in various piano competitions and festivals. She enjoys playing works
by Beethoven, Bach, Scriabin, Ginastera, Lecuana, and contemporary composers such as
Fazil Say. In June, 2014 she made her debut at Carnegie Hall in NY. She has had her
own piano studio for a couple years where she has been teaching young students piano
and violin. Apart from her musical side, Julia maintains a strong academic record and has
taken a total of 7 AP classes. Her favorite classes are Statistics, Biology, and Spanish
Language. She has been in the school’s speech and Debate team for three years where
she had an interest in Public Forum debate. In addition she was on the Track and Field
team, Badminton team, and has played soccer for numerous years. She loves volunteering
in the community; she taught at the elementary school’s band program, helped
underprivileged kids with public speaking, and helped in her Ukrainian community. Last
summer, she went to Guatemala with her church to help orphan kids as well as to do
various construction projects to help the village of Zacapa. In her free time she loves
going surfing, hiking, biking, and painting nature.
Awards:
2012
- First Place at Youth Focus Competition
2013
- First place at US Open Piano Competition
- Played in MTAC Branch Honor Recital
2014
- Won third place at US Open Piano Competition
- Completed Panel (highest level) in the Certificate of Merit
- Played in the MTAC Branch Honors Recital
- AP Scholar Award
- Played solo and duet in Carnegie Hall in New York.
- First place in California Young Chopin Inernational Piano Competition
