JULIA BIRNBAUM

New York city-based VIOLINIST

Violinist Julia Birnbaum is an avid orchestral, chamber, studio and collaborative musician in New York City. She is currently a member of the Sarasota Opera Orchestra, and has performed with the Hawaii, New World, Queens, Harrisburg, Oakland, California, Monterey, Marin, Pacific Chamber Symphonies, Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the Bronx, the Berkeley Chamber Opera, Opera Cultura, and Orchestra Gloria, among others.

Ms. Birnbaum has served as concertmaster of the Chicago Arts Orchestra and under the late-Maestro Lorin Maazel at the Castleton Festival in 2011. As a chamber musician, Ms. Birnbaum has performed with the Lincoln Center Stage Piano Quintet and has performed with various groups in the Bay Area and most recently in New York.

Ms. Birnbaum, who started playing violin at age five in her home state of Maryland, received a bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance from Northwestern University under the tutelage of the 40-year Chicago Symphony veteran Blair Milton. Upon graduation, she won and completed a two-year fellowship with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the training orchestra to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She also completed the certificate program at Peabody Preparatory in Baltimore under the String Department Chair Rebecca Henry. Ms. Birnbaum attended the Aspen Music Festival, American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz (Austria), CIM's Encore School for Strings, and Indiana University String Academy.

In addition to the previous ensembles listed, Ms. Birnbaum has performed with The Beach Boys, Judy Collins, Kygo, Goapele, Evanescence and Madeleine Peyroux, as well as New Jersey Festival Orchestra, Scandia Symphony, Modus Operandi Orchestra, Hudson Valley Philharmonc, The Orchestra Now, Bare Opera, Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra, Symphony of the City of New York, St. Petersburg Opera Company, Sacramento Philharmonic, California Sound Collective, Modesto Symphony Orchestra, Fresno Philharmonic, Vallejo Symphony Orchestra, Merced Symphony, Maui Chamber Orchestra, UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus and Undergraduate Composers Club, Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church Orchestra, Symphonia Caritas, Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, Rockford Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra, Chicago Composers Orchestra, Renovo String Orchestra, Chicago Folks Operetta and Symphony Sounds, among others.

In addition to her extensive symphonic performances, Ms. Birnbaum has performed dozens of musicals, operas, and operettas. She has performed across the United States and abroad: in San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, Honolulu, Washington D.C., Santa Fe, Orlando, Miami, Sarasota, London, and Graz, to name a few. She also spent some of her time in Chicago and San Francisco teaching violin - as a freelance private teacher, at the Chicago School of Music, and as the violin sectional coach for University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Following over a decade as an orchestral and chamber musician in the Chicago and San Francisco Bay areas, Ms. Birnbaum relocated to New York in 2018 to perform with orchestras, chamber groups, and on studio recordings. Any and all opportunities are welcome!