Juro Kim Feliz

Juro Kim Feliz

We are thrilled to announce that Juro Kim Feliz has joined the NMC family as our 2021/2022 NMC Composer In Residence.

This season Juro will compose two pieces for our current season including a new work for eight flutes to be premiered as part of our April 30, 2022 SWARA SUTRAS concert, and a new work for solo trumpet to be premiered in a celebratory gala project that we will announce to our audience very soon. Juro will also sit on our Artistic Advisory Council, engage with our education outreach initiatives, and interact with the NMC wider community of artists and audience members. 

You can learn more about Juro below and please visit newmusicconcerts.com to learn more about our 21/22 concert season.

Juro Kim Feliz - BIOGRAPHY

Hailing from the Philippines, Toronto-based composer and synth pop singer-songwriter Juro Kim Feliz has collaborated with ensembles including Liminar, the Thin Edge New Music Collective, and Ensemble x.y. Winning the Goethe Southeast Asian Young Composer Award (2009) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, his creative work as a contemporary classical composer have since garnered performances across Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe. As a synth pop artist, he adopts the moniker “Grumpy Kitty Boy.”
 
His first musical exposure came through piano lessons from his mother at an early age. Formal piano studies commenced later under Minda Amoranto and Avelina Manalo, leading him to win the Weinstein Piano Competition (1st place, 1999) and land as a finalist in the National Competitions for Young Artists Piano Competition (2001) in the Philippines.
 
Primary mentors include composers Jonas Baes and Melissa Hui as Feliz studied composition at the University of the Philippines and at McGill University. He also received further mentorship from composers Liza Lim, Dieter Mack, Linda Catlin Smith, and the Japanese koto performer Hiroko Nagai. His work appeared in festival programs including the Yogyakarta Contemporary Music Festivals (2009-2010: Yogyakarta, Indonesia), Asian Composers League festivals (2009-2015: South Korea, Taiwan, Israel, Philippines), Music Biennale Zagreb (2017: Zagreb, Croatia), New Music on the Bayou (2017: Monroe, LA), MATA Festival (2018: New York City, NY), Nief-Norf Summer Festival (2018: Knoxville, TN), MUSLAB Festival (2018: Mexico City, Mexico), and the online Cluster XI: Digital Edition (2020).
 
Feliz got distinction (Highly Commended) for his work Hanggang sa Paglubog ng Araw at the Ars Electronica Forum Wallis (2018: Leuk, Switzerland). His Piano Concerto landed him as a finalist of the 5-Minute Piano Concerto Competition at the Music Biennale Zagreb (2017). He has done artist residencies under the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts (2018: Saratoga, WY), the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts (2019: Nebraska City, NE), and served as a library resident artist of the Canadian Music Centre Ontario (2018-2020: Toronto, Canada). He was also nominated for the “Excellence Award in Music and Entertainment” in the Golden Balangay Awards (2019: Winnipeg, Canada), an award-giving body that highlights the accomplishments of Filipinos and Filipino-Canadians.
 
Some of his work as a contemporary classical composer are now published under Babel Scores. Ablaze Records commercially released his percussion duo piece Gandingan sa Kagiliran in 2017, while his synth pop releases as Grumpy Kitty Boy—including the debut single “Airplane Wings” (2020) and the EP “Show Me The Kibbles” (2021)—gained media coverage with Cashbox Canada, Record World Magazine, Tinnitist, Canadian Beats, the Toronto Guardian, and other outlets.
 
Besides activities involving composition, Feliz also engaged in community radio as a producer and co-host of Sigaw ng Bayan Montreal at CKUT 90.3 FM (2015-2017). As a library resident artist of the Canadian Music Centre Ontario, he produced an article/podcast series named Nomadic Sound Worlds which explores and situates Canadian contemporary music within present-day global migration.