Juro-Kim Feliz

“His music thrives in the sustained tension, like the kinetic energy emanating from the corners of a frame, the opposing forces holding up a house” (Musicworks, 2022).

Toronto-based composer and synth-pop singer-songwriter Juro Kim Feliz has internationally presented his work across Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe. Since winning the Goethe Southeast Asian Young Composer Award (2009), he has collaborated and received commissions and performances from artists including Continuum Contemporary Music, Liminar, Thin Edge New Music Collective, Ensemble x.y, dissonArt Ensemble, Marilène Provencher-Leduc, Guy Few, Wesley Shen, and Renee Fajardo. As a synth-pop artist, he adopts the moniker “Grumpy Kitty Boy.”

Born and raised in the Philippines, his first musical exposure came through piano lessons. Formal piano studies commenced 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 (2003-2010) and McGill University (2014-2016). He also sought further mentorship from composers Liza Lim, Dieter Mack, Linda Catlin Smith, Katharina Rosenberger, and Japanese koto artists Hiroko Nagai and Masayo Ishigure. His work appeared in concert programs and curated projects including the Yogyakarta Contemporary Music Festivals (2009, 2010: Yogyakarta, Indonesia), Kuala Lumpur Contemporary Music Festival (2009: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), Asian Composers League Festivals (2009-2015: South Korea, Taiwan, Israel, Philippines), 48th Dimitria's "Collaborative Miniature Project" (2013: Thessaloniki, Greece), Forum Wallis (2014: Leuk, Switzerland), Project Bakawan Arts Festival's "Listening Terminals" (2015: Quezon City, Philippines), Music Biennale Zagreb (2017: Zagreb, Croatia), New Music on the Bayou (2017: Monroe, LA), MATA Festival (2018: New York City, NY), Cities and Memory's "Sound Photography" (2018) and "Shortwave Transmissions" (2021: Oxford, United Kingdom), Nief-Norf Summer Festival (2018: Knoxville, TN), MUSLAB Festivals (2018: Mexico City, Mexico; 2023: Guayaquil, Ecuador), Tangente Danse (2019: Montreal, QC), Cluster XI: Digital Edition (2020: Winnipeg, MB), Freesound (2022: Toronto, ON), SONIC MATTER Festival (2022: Zürich, Switzerland), NAISA's "Deep Wireless 17" (2023: South River, ON), Het Paviljoen's "To Undiscovered Lands" (2023: Ghent, Belgium), CAMPGround23 (2023: Tampa, FL), and impuls Academy's "In Situ - Translucent Spaces" (2023: Graz, Austria).

Feliz was awarded a "Highly Commended" distinction 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 completed artist residencies at the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts (2018: Saratoga, WY), the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts (2019: Nebraska City, NE), Willapa Bay AiR (2023: Oysterville, WA), and served as a library resident artist of the Canadian Music Centre Ontario (2018-2020: Toronto, ON). He was also nominated for the “Excellence Award in Music and Entertainment” in the Golden Balangay Awards (2019: Winnipeg, MB), an award-giving body that highlights the accomplishments of Filipinos and Filipino-Canadians.

Feliz is affiliated with the Canadian Music Centre as an associate composer and has premiered commissioned works as a composer-in-residence of New Music Concerts (2022-2023: Toronto, ON).

Music releases include his electroacoustic pieces Weekend Rain and Hanggang sa Paglubog ng Araw in the compilation album "Tunog Lata" (2023: Musikolektibo); Hanggang sa Takipsilim in "Mind & Machine, Vol. 4" (2022: Ravello Records); and the percussion duo piece Gandingan sa Kagiliran in "Millennial Masters, Vol. 7" (2017: Ablaze Records). 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. He has also created sound design for radio and theatre (2016: Sa Dakong Kawala: Mga Eksenang Binaon ng Alon; 2023: Would Virginia Woolf Contemplate Suicide if She Were Filipino?), and contributed feature articles for Toronto-based magazine Musicworks.