Pianist Julia Mortyakova maintains an international performing career. She has performed in Bulgaria, Canada, Italy, Romania, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, and throughout the U.S. She currently serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Music and the Founder/Director of the annual international Music by Women Festival at Mississippi University for Women. Julia specializes in performing music by women composers, a repertoire which, unjustly, has been erased from the concert stage. She offers solo and piano duo recitals, masterclasses, lessons, and outreach presentations featuring performances of works by women composers, lectures about their lives and work, and audience participation.

 She is the recipient of the 2021 Mississippi Arts Commission Performing Arts Fellowship and is the 2017 Honored Artist (Mississippi State Committee National Museum of Women in the Arts). Mortyakova is a laureate of the 2014 American Prize for her performance Cécile Chaminade and the winner of the 2012 Sigma Alpha Iota Career Performance Grant. She was a Musician in Residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada) while on sabbatical in 2017. Dr. Mortyakova is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, Vanderbilt University, New York University, and the University of Miami. The Mortyakova/Bogdan Piano Duo are the second-prize winners of the 2017 Ellis Duo Piano Competition.