Julia Cruz has an enthusiastic, dynamic, and communicative personality that allows her to connect with orchestras and audiences. Her repertoire ranges from Haydn to contemporary music, with a special focus on opera and newly created works. She is a Britten Pears Young Artist 2023 and, since 2022, an Award Recipient of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship.
Julia had several highlight engagements in 2023, including her debuts with Orquesta del Teatro de Bellas Artes -leading the winter The Nutcracker production with Mexico’s National Dance Company and being immediately reinvited- OFUNAM, Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, La Jolla Symphony and Chorus, leading the closing night of Festival Internacional de Música de Cambra de Godella and conducting Chicago Philharmonic in collaboration with New Music USA. As assistant/cover conductor, she worked at Opera de Colombia for a new production of Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, and is reinvited to the National Orchestral Institute Festival, assisting the diverse conductors and recordings for Naxos USA. As a Britten Pears Young Artist, she participates in a contemporary opera workshop leaded in collaboration with the Royal Opera House. Highlights from previous seasons include her largely successful debuts with Kolozsvári Magyar Opera (La Traviata) and Stara Zagora State Opera (L’Elisir d’Amore), after being awarded the second prize at the Blue Danube Béla Bartók Opera Conducting Competition 2021.
Upcoming engagements include her debut with Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México and several premieres in Europe, United States and Latin America.
Julia graduated from Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón and Zuyd University of Applied Arts, both with distinctions. She has also studied with Federico Santi, and has attended masterclasses with Johannes Schlaeffli, Gregory Vajda, Marin Alsop, Daniel Oren, Colin Metters, Vladimir Ponkin, and Bruno Aprea, among other international conductors.