Julian Schwarz (born January 18, 1991) is an American cellist of Austrian descent who graduated from Juilliard School.[1] Schwarz is currently on the cello faculty of Eastern Music Festival[2] and as of August 2017, the assistant professor of cello at Shenendoah Conservatory.[3] He won the 2013 inaugural Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition in Hong Kong[4] and the 2016 Boulder International Chamber Music Competition's "The Art of Duo" with pianist Marika Bournaki, to whom he is married.[5][6]
Schwarz began piano lessons at the age of 5 and cello lessons at 6 with the late David Tonkonogui.[9] At 11 years old, he made his orchestral debut with the Seattle Symphony playing Saint-Saëns's Cello Concerto No. 1 with his father, Gerard Schwarz, conducting.
At 18 years old, Schwarz was featured on the cover of the March/April/May 2009 issue of Teen Strings Magazine.[10]
Schwarz is active in the music community as a solo cellist, conductor, chamber musician, and pedagogue. He is also an active contributor to the Strings Magazine Artist Blog.[11]
Schwarz performs in festivals across North America and Europe including the Seattle Chamber Music Festival,[23] the Cape Cod Music Festival,[24] and the Verbier Festival in Switzerland.[25]
Schwarz is a faculty member of several festivals and music schools including the cello faculty at Eastern Music Festival,[26] teaching assistant to Joel Krosnick at The Juilliard School, and assistant professor of cello at Shenendoah Conservatory. He has been the artist-in-residence at the pianoSonoma Festival since 2012 and the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance in Nova Scotia, Canada since 2015.[27]
Schwarz was featured in a PBS special with the All-Star Orchestra performing Samuel Jones's cello concerto, which was written specifically for him. The initial broadcast of the program was in October 2013 and it was also later released as a DVD on Naxos.[28] Schwarz has also premiered works by many other composers including Richard Danielpour, Dobrinka Tabakova, and Marlos Nobre.
Schwarz began conducting in a professional capacity in 2007 as the assistant conductor of the Lake Union Civic Orchestra under Christophe Chagnard until 2009.[32] He studied conducting privately with maestro Jorge Mester from 2014 to 2016.
Chamber Ensemble
Schwarz is currently a member of the Frisson Ensemble,[33] the Mile-End Trio,[34] and the New York Classical Players[35] and has performed on chamber series including the pianoSonoma Festival, Hammond Performing Arts Series, and Frankly Music Chamber Series.
Awards
Year
Event
Rank
2016
Boulder International Chamber Music Competition's "The Art of Duo" with Marika Bournaki
1st
2013
Inaugural Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition in Hong Kong (Professional Cello Division)
1st
2010
Banff International String Quartet Competition (Peresson Quartet)