American soprano Julia Stuart is a graduate of The Juilliard School, May 2023, where she earned a Graduate Diploma certificate in Opera studies from the Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts. Ms. Stuart is a proud recipient of the Novick Career Grant, awarded to her upon her graduation from Juilliard. Ms. Stuart is currently studying with tenor, Richard Cox.

Recently, Ms. Stuart joined Opera Saratoga in June and early July, 2024, as a Festival Artist. At Opera Saratoga, Julia made her role debut singing Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, which was conducted by Ryan McAdams and directed by Gisela Cardenas. Evan Berkowitz of The Berkshire Eagle praised Ms. Stuart’s performance: “The sparkling find of Opera Saratoga’s season is the magnificent soprano Julia Stuart, who’s pure, powerful Fiordiligi propelled a ‘Così fan tutte’ that was cheeky, beautiful and well-acted…” Berkowitz also noted that “It was a testament to Stuart’s skill — and the Juilliard program where General and Artistic Director Mary Birnbaum encounted her — that she was so fully formed in her first major opera outside school.” Richard Lovich of Times Union wrote “Each of the four romantic leads had fine vocal moments but soprano Julia Stuart as Fiordiligi was the standout even before her grand second act aria ‘Per pietà, ben mio, perdona.’ While navigating its wide emotional range, Stuart seemed to burrow ever deeper into character.”

For the upcoming 2024/2025 season, Ms. Stuart will be joining the Opera Studio at Oper Frankfurt. There she will be making her role debuts in three of their productions including: High Priestess in a revival of Aida by Giuseppe Verdi, conducted by Julia Jones and directed by Lydia Steiner; Clotilde in a revival of Norma by Vincenzo Bellini, conducted by Giuliano Carella and directed by Christof Loy; and a Blumenmädchen in a new production of Parsifal by Richard Wager, conducted by Thomas Guggeis and directed by Brigitte Fassbaender.

Since graduating from Juilliard, Ms. Stuart won an encouragement award in The Gerda Lissner Foundation competition in the Opera Division. In the summer of 2023, she joined SongFest as a member of the Professional Program. At SongFest, Ms. Stuart sang baroque, cabaret, art song and new works through the newly appointed Composer Mentorship Program and additionally had the privilege to perform in concert with lieder expert, Graham Johnson. Following Songfest, Ms. Stuart joined Classic Lyric Arts in Novafeltria, Italy studying the artistry of bel canto repertoire.

While at Juilliard during her second year, 2022-2023, Ms. Stuart made her Juilliard Opera debut singing Mrs. Johannes “Ma” Zegner in Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s harrowing opera, Proving Up, directed by Mary Birnbaum and conducted by Steven Osgood. Opera News wrote “Julia Stuart deployed the weight of her multi-timbered soprano to communicate the burden Ma Zegner had to endure through five years of working land.” Additionally, Parterre Box said “Soprano Julia Stuart revealed a seemingly limitless supply of raw and electrifying vocal power.” Also that year, Ms. Stuart took first prize in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition in the New York district; performed scenes from Puccini’s La Bohème with other members of Vocal Arts at Juilliard; made her Alice Tully Hall debut in recital performing selections by Schubert, Brahms and Strauss; covered the role of Frau Fluth in Juilliard Opera’s production of Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor by Otto Nicolai, conducted by Christian Reif and directed by Tara Faircloth; and performed as a soloist a curated set of Spanish songs in Javier Arrebola’s Liederabend in Juilliard’s Paul Hall.

In her first year at Juilliard, 2021-2022, Ms. Stuart performed as a soloist with Juilliard’s Percussion Ensemble performing works by Grammy Award winning composer, Steven Mackey. Ms. Stuart performed a world premier of Mackey’s “Afterlife”. Ms. Stuart was also scheduled to make her Donna Elvira debut in Don Giovanni with Prague Summer Nights but it was cancelled due to Covid-19 concerns.

Prior to attending Juilliard, Ms. Stuart earned her Master of Music degree from the Mannes School of Music at The New School (May 2021), where she was the recipient of the Provost Scholarship. At Mannes, Ms. Stuart was to perform the role of Amore in La Dafne by Marco da Gagliano, but the production was cancelled due to Covid-19

In the summer of 2019, Ms. Stuart was invited to perform the title role of Eurydice in Pasadena City College’s production of Orpheus in the Underworld by Jacques Offenbach, directed by Maria Fortuna Dean. In 2018, Ms. Stuart received her Bachelor of Music degree from The University of California, Los Angeles where she was a student of Michael Dean and the recipient of the UCLA Department of Music Performance Scholarship. Ms. Stuart participated in several productions during her time at UCLA. She performed the role of Lillian Russell in Opera UCLA’s production of The Mother of Us All by Virgil Thomson, conducted by Andreas Mitisek and directed by Michael Hackett. Ms. Stuart also performed as a member of the ensemble in: Cendrillon by Jules Massenet, conducted by Christopher Ocasek directed by Peter Kazaras; Così fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, conducted by Neal Stulberg and directed by Peter Kazaras; andI Due Figaro by Mercadante, conducted by Joseph Colaneri and directed by Peter Kazaras.

Ms. Stuart has participated in several masterclasses with esteemed leaders in the opera world today. These include: Frederica von Stade, Barbara Bonney, Lisette Oropesa, Steven Blier and Anthony Roth Costanzo. Ms. Stuart began her classical vocal studies in 2012 having also had both dance and acting training. She trained ballet and contemporary dance at the Westen Ballet and Veksler studios, both in the Silicon Valley, California. She also trained with acting coach, Susan Woodell-Mascall, participating as a student in her program, College Audition Pro. Ms. Stuart continues her acting studies at privately with Mary Birnbaum and Broadway actor Nic Rouleau.