Violinist Julia McKenzie performs on historical and modern violins in a wide range of musical styles. She specializes in period performance with grammy-nominated Boston Baroque (Telarc), the Handel & Haydn Society, Les Bostonades, and The Bach Project of Ashmont Hill Chamber Music. She also performs on modern or period violins for the King's Chapel Concert Series, Emmanuel Music, the Society for Historically Informed Performance, the American Baroque Orchestra, and many other ensembles. She has appeared in numerous international music festivals, including the Casals Festival, the Beethoven Festival in Poland, Tage Alter Musik, Ravinia, the Indianapolis Early Music Festival, and at the BBC Proms in London. She appears on numerous recordings with various ensembles. Other musical adventures include performing with the multimedia group Melodic Vision, dabbling in jazz, blues & rock with area bands, and serving as an instrument consultant for Carriage House Violins. Committed to bringing music to underserved audiences, she is a member of Shelter Music Boston and co-director of Eudaimonia: A Purposeful Period Band. A dedicated educator of both historical and modern violin technique, Julia enjoys presenting demonstrations, master classes, and recitals surveying the history of the violin, and participating in educational outreach programs, such as Boston Baroque's Classics for Kids and Handel & Haydn Society's Collaborative Youth Concerts and lecture-performance partnership with MIT.
Alumna of New England Conservatory, Aspen Music School, UC Irvine; principal teachers and coaches include Paul Kantor, Eugene Lehner, Robert Kopf, William Fitzpatrick, Brian Dembow; baroque violin with Dana Maiben.