Biography
Julia Ageyeva Hess is an internationally recognized harpsichordist. She moved in 2016 to Freiburg, Germany where she lives with her theorbo player husband Gary Hess and their two daughters. Julia began her musical training as a pianist in her native Estonia. In 1998 she moved to the United States to continue her studies and developed a passion for harpsichord and historical performance. After receiving B.Mus. and M.Mus. degrees (both cum laude) from Arizona State University, Julia Ageyeva Hess moved to New York where she received a doctorate in harpsichord performance at SUNY Stony Brook in 2011. Julia’s teachers include Arthur Haas, Eckart Sellheim, John Metz and Kimberly Marshall and she has participated in master classes with Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Kenneth Weiss, Andrew Lawrence King, Patrick Ayrton and Ketil Haugsand.
Julia Ageyeva Hess has appeared in concerts in the USA, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Italy and Russia, and has performed at numerous festivals, including the Boston, Berkeley, Amherst and Connecticut Early Music Festivals. During 2001-2009, she was harpsichordist and founding member of the California-based early music group Galileo Project. In 2004-2005 Julia Ageyeva Hess was organist and music director in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Patchogue, NY; in 2008-2009 she served as pianist in St. Jerome’s Catholic Church in El Cerrito, CA. In Estonia, she collaborated with partners such as NYYD Ensemble, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and Tallinn Baroque Orchestra, and formed a harpsichord duo with Prof. Imbi Tarum. Julia Ageyeva Hess performed as a soloist with Golden Age and Pratum Integrum Orchestras in Moscow.
She received prizes at the Paola Bernardi competition in Bologna in 2013 (including the Mariolina De Robertis prize for best performance of a contemporary piece), Second International Volkonsky Harpsichord Competition in Moscow in 2013 and Westfield International Harpsichord Competition in Washington in 2012, and she received a diploma as a finalist at the First International Volkonsky Harpsichord Competition. Julia Ageyeva Hess is an active member of the Association of Estonian Professional Musicians, and Estonian Harpsichord Society.