Julia Gomelskaya (1964-2016)

Julia Gomelskaya (1964-2016)
We were very sad to learn the tragic news that composer Julia Gomelskaya was killed in a car accident on December 4. Many members of the ISCM community know Ms. Gomelskaya as the delegate from the Odessa-based Association New Music which is the official Ukranian Section of ISCM. Ms. Gomelskaya was a fixture at the ISCM General Assembly for many years.

A graduate of the Simpheropol Tchaikovsky Musical College where she studied piano and composition, Gomelskaya further her studies at the Guildhall School of Music and the City University of London. She also participated in the Gaudeamus Foundation workshop for composers. Her teachers included Ton de Leeuw, Nigel Osborne, and Robert Saxton. Gomelskaya served as a professor of composition at the Odessa National Music Academy and was also a member of the National Ukrainian Composers’ Union.
Gomelskaya was a prolific composer whose formidable catalog includes works for orchestra, chorus, and a wide array of chamber ensembles, including the viscerally exciting piano and percussion duo Gutsulka Dance from 2006. Her windband composition The Riot (2005) was performed during the 2011 World Music Days in Zagreb, Croatia. In the words of Anna Dorota Władyczka, “her compositions combine universal musical language with soul of Ukrainian tradition.”
—Frank J. Oteri

Julia is among the ISCM delegates pictured in this photo which was taken during the ISCM General Assembly at the 2011 World Music Days in Zagreb, Croatia. Photo thanks to Sorin Lerescu, President of the Romanian Section of ISCM.