Pianist Julia Mortyakova is the recipient of the Mississippi Arts Commission(National Endowment for the Arts) 2021 Performing Arts Fellowship (piano) and a member of the Mississippi Artist Roster.  She is the recipient of the the inaugural 2023 MUW Excellence in Creative Activity Award, and the 2024 inaugural MUW Excellence in Teaching in Creative Spaces Award. She was named the 2017 “Honored Artist” by the Mississippi State Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.  Julia and her duo partner, Valentin Bogdan, are the 2nd place winner of the 2017 Ellis National Duo Piano Competition.  

She has performed around the world: Assisi Performing Arts (Italy), Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (Canada), Musica Nueva Malaga (Spain), Symphonic Workshops (Bulgaria), Sala Patria (Romania), Prokofiev Museum, Spread Spectrum Festival, Yaroslavl Art Museum, (Russia), Zhytomyr’s Musical Spring (Ukraine), Aspen Music Festival, Clayton Piano Festival, College Music Society (regional and national conferences), Eastern Music Festival, Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), Natchez Festival of Music, National Association of Composers USA (NACUSA) (regional and national conferences), International Alliance for Women in Music conference, and Women Composers Festival of Hartford. From 2013-2019 she appeared annually as concerto soloist with the Assisi (Italy) and Starkville Symphony orchestras.

Julia is a 2014 laureate of The American Prize international competition, receiving special recognition, a Judges’ Citation for her performance and “Championing the music of Cecile Chaminade.” She was also  the 2012 winner of the Sigma Alpha Iota Career Performance Grant and performed at the 2012 SAI National Convention in Atlanta, GA.

The 2023 concert season  includes encore concerto soloist appearances with the Assisi Performing Arts (Italy)  as well as solo recitals in Assisi,Italy, Brasov, Romania and throughout the United States:MS Gulf Coast Community College (MS), Lipscomb University (TN). North Greenville University (SC), Campbell University (NC), Tennessee State University (TN), Chaminade Club at Millsaps College (MS), Berry College (GA), Dalton State University (GA), Middle Tennessee State University (TN) and others.

Dr. Mortyakova is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, Vanderbilt University, New York University, and the University of Miami. Additional study and performances include: Aspen Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts, and Symphonic Workshops International Piano Masterclass (Bulgaria). Her piano teachers include Irina Krivchenko, Fabio Parrini, Michael Coonrod, Craig Nies, Miyoko Lotto and Rosalina Sackstein.

Dr. Mortyakova currently serves as Chair of the Department of Music and Professor of Music at the Mississippi University for Women. She previously held a professorship at Alcorn State University. Her research includes applying the existential philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre to piano teaching, the life and music of Cécile Chaminade and other women composers as well as administrative ideas. Most recently, she wrote a piano textbook, Class Piano published by Kendall Hunt Publishing. She has presented her research at numerous state, regional, national and international conferences including: College Music Society, Music Teachers National Association, National Association of Music Schools, Hartford Women Composers Festival Forum, Zhytomyr’s Musical Spring international contemporary music festival and conference (Ukraine), and Internet Governance Forum (Lithuania). Julia is a published author in the United States and Ukraine and her five piano albums have sold internationally.  Equally active in her administrative field, she serves on the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) Commission on Accreditation and has previously served on the NASM Board of Directors as Chair of NASM Region 8.  Additionally, she is an active on-site evaluator on behalf of the NASM Commission on Accreditation.  She is Immediate Past President of the College Music Society Southern Region.

Julia released a second solo piano album, “A Celebration of Women in Music” featuring music by women composers throughout history as well as a duo piano CD with Valentin Bogdan, “Journey for Two.” In 2021 the Mortyakova/Bogdan Piano Duo released their second album, “Music by Women” featuring two-piano works by women composers. In 2022 Julia released her 3rd solo album, “Sonata” featuring music by women composers. Julia is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Annual International Music by Women Festival at MUW, a festival dedicated to highlighting the contributions of women composers historically, as well as in the present day.