Julia Gjertsen is a pianist, composer, and producer based in Oslo. Her music moves through a sonic landscape of both acoustic and electronic elements, often centered around the piano. Using layers of piano, keys, and synths, she creates compositions that are both spacious and detailed, shaped by intuition, repetition, and a strong sensitivity to sound.
Her arrangements are built around melodies and patterns that move between ambient aesthetics and modern classical expression. Nature often influences her work, as do feelings connected to memories and places. Many of her compositions begin with small fragments or impressions, expanding slowly with subtle and detailed progression.
Since 2012, Julia has released three solo LPs and one EP. Her debut album, Fragile (2019), released on Moderna Records, introduced a pared back, subtle and intimate sound. On Formations (2022), she broadened her sonic palette with flute and electronics, exploring looser structures and wider spaces. In her third album, Shadow Light (2024), she revisits a more acoustic piano palette while reflecting on the contrasts brought out by light and shadow.
Her creative process often involves collaboration. Over the years, she has worked with artists across genres, such as Chilean composer Nico Rosenberg (Distant Fields, 2020; Paisajes Imaginarios, 2022), Finnish composer Juha Mäki-Patola (Dive, 2023), and Swedish trombonist and composer Gustav Davidsson (Wandering Mind, Drifting Weather, 2025).
Julia has also contributed solo works to several compilations and single releases. One of these is Runddans, which appeared on Piano Day Compilation Vol. 1, curated by LEITER.
Reviews:
Oslo based composer Julia Gjertsen has an uncanny knack for creating some of the most soothing and lightly melodic compositions I’ve heard over the last decade. On her new album “Formations”, she brings in flutes, synths and textured ambience to her piano work and it feels like music for clouds. Delicately poised between texture and melody and bursting with ideas that are realized with equal portions of precision and zest, Formations becomes a buoyant listening experience with an underlying cleverness that demands it be taken seriously. That is not an easy balance to achieve in this medium and is a testament to the creative talents on display in this thoroughly pleasant and uplifting album.