Julia Bal de Zuniga (1892 – 1964) was a Belgian-born concert pianist and music educator in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Early life

Julia H. Bal was born in

Ghent, Belgium Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

, the daughter of musicians Herman J. Bal and Josephine Marie Bal. Her father was head of the piano department at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent, and later headed the music department at Baylor College for Women, now the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, from 1902 to 1908. She studied piano with

Arthur De Greef Arthur De Greef may refer to: * Arthur De Greef (composer) (1862–1940), Belgian pianist and composer * Arthur De Greef (tennis) (born 1992), Belgian tennis player {{hndis, Greef, Arthur De ...

in Brussels,

Élie-Miriam Delaborde Élie-Miriam Delaborde (born Eraïm-Miriam Delaborde; 7 February 18399 December 1913) was a French virtuoso pianist and composer. He was also renowned as a player of the pedal piano. Life His birth was registered under the name of his mother L ...

in Paris, and

Emil Sauer Emil Georg Conrad von Sauer (8 October 186227 April 1942) was a German composer, pianist, score editor, and music (piano) teacher. He was a pupil of Franz Liszt and one of the most distinguished pianists of his generation. Josef Hofmann called von ...

in Berlin. She also studied with Isidor Philipp and

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (; 12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers ...

. At age 16 she played a two-piano concerto with

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (; 9 October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano C ...

Career

Julia Bal de Zuniga was a concert pianist based on the Pacific Coast of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In 1911, she performed at the

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

centennial celebration in Mexico City. She toured in South America in 1917 and 1918. In 1928 she was featured in summer concerts at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. Zuniga co-chaired the piano department at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, which would later be merged into California Institute of the Arts after her death. During her tenure at LACM, one of her students was American pianist and composer Marty Paich.

Personal life

Julia Bal married Mexican-born Miguel A. Zuniga (also known by Michel or Michael), who worked at the Belgian consulate in Los Angeles. They had two children, Yvonne and Miguel Jr. She died in 1964, in her early seventies; her grave is in

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

. There is a Julia Bal de Zuniga Scholarship Fund at the California Institute of the Arts.

References

External links

*
Julia H. Zuniga in the 1940 Census
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bal de Zuniga, Julia Belgian classical pianists California Institute of the Arts faculty Musicians from Ghent 1892 births 1964 deaths Belgian emigrants to the United States