Julian Marshall

Julian Marshall (ARCM, FHEA) has a wealth of experience as a songwriter, composer, teacher, lecturer, mentor/coach and musician. Following education at Dartington Hall School and the Royal College of Music, he became internationally known as the co-creator (with Kit Hain) of the late 1970s group Marshall Hain, whose single Dancing in the City went platinum in 1978. He was also a member of the band The Flying Lizards, scoring a top- five UK hit with the single Money in 1979. In the 1980s he formed the group Eye to Eye with American songwriter and performer Deborah Berg. The group recorded two classic albums for Warner Brothers produced by Steely Dan producer Gary Katz and a latter-day third album produced by Roxy Music producer Rhett Davies.

During the 1980s and 90s, as well as writing and recording his own music, he produced records, played as a session musician on both sides of the Atlantic and worked in A&R for Boulevard Records in Los Angeles and Polydor Records in London. 

Since the early 1990s, he has run his own highly successful teaching, mentoring and coaching practice. Past students include Rosie Lowe, Cosmo Jarvis, Gabriel Stebbing. He has taught and lectured at Dartington College of Arts, Plymouth University, Middlesex University and Dartington International Summer School. From 2010 to 2015 he co-launched and was creative director of London Song Company, an organization for songwriters offering a range of training and opportunities across a wide stylistic brief.

Currently, in addition to running his continuing thriving creative coaching practice, he is a Teaching Fellow at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance (ICMP) in London.

Composition

As well as the many songs for Marshall Hain and Eye to Eye, Julian has also composed music for film, theatre and the concert hall. This includes Old Enough, an Orion Pictures film directed by Marissa Silver, the short film Still Life directed by Emma George, and the score for the play Shakespeare’s Will at Theatre Clwyd (2010) directed by Emma Lucia.

In recent years, he has turned his attention to choral music, composing a cantata for mixed voices, two cellos and mezzo-soprano, Out of the Darkness (for Melanie Pappenheim), a follow-up work, for mixed voices, six cellos and tenor, The Angel in the Forest (for James Gilchrist), a series of Christmas carols on traditional texts including In the Bleak Midwinter and The Holly and the Ivy, a collection of William Blake settings.

In 2018 he formed The Rupa Ensemble – an occasional vocal ensemble specialising in the performance of Julian’s small vocal ensemble work.

The choral works Out of the Darkness and The Angel in the Forest both set texts by the poet Gertrud Kolmar. Following their composition and the addition of new work, Julian created The Welten Project in 2021 with the intention of creating a body of work and related research inspired by the life and work of the poet. This work will be offered through recorded and live performance plus occasional accompanying participatory activities.

Julian is married to (glass artist) Arabella Marshall. They have two adult children, Gabriel and Solomon and one grandson, Joseph.

For details see: www.julianmarshall.co.uk

Julian’s choral music to 2021 music is published by Novello and Co.