JuliaBullock

/
Soprano
Scroll for more

Contact

For availability and general enquiries:

Mathieu  Levan

Mathieu Levan

Assistant Artist Manager

Representation

Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

About Julia

One of Musical America’s 2021 “Artists of the Year,” Julia Bullock is an American classical singer who “communicates intense, authentic feeling, as if she were singing right from her soul” (Opera News).

Combining versatile artistry with a probing intellect and commanding stage presence, she has headlined productions and concerts at preeminent arts institutions around the world. An innovative curator in high demand from a diverse group of organizations, she has held positions including collaborative partner of Esa-Pekka Salonen and 2019-20 Artist-in-Residence at the San Francisco Symphony, 2020–22 Artist-in-Residence of London’s Guildhall School, and 2018-19 Artist-in-Residence at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Bullock’s opera debuts include San Francisco Opera in the world premiere of Girls of the Golden West; Santa Fe Opera in Doctor Atomic; Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Dutch National Opera in The Rake’s Progress; the English National Opera, Teatro Real and Bolshoi Theatre in the title role
of The Indian Queen; and Dutch National Opera, Bregenzer Festspiele and Park Avenue Armory in the premiere of Michel van der Aa’s Upload. In concert, she has collaborated with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester and London’s Philharmonia and London Symphony Orchestras, while her recital highlights include appearances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Celebrity Series, Washington’s Kennedy Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, and the Mostly Mozart and Ojai Music festivals.

Released by Nonesuch, Bullock’s solo album debut, Walking in the Dark, was featured in the New York Times’s “Best Classical Music Tracks of 2022” and named one of the “Ten Best Classical Albums of 2022” by NPR. Her growing discography also includes Grammy-nominated accounts of West Side Story and Doctor Atomic, as well as the soundtrack of Amazon Prime Video’s 2021 The Underground Railroad, composed by Nicholas Britell.

Committed to integrating community activism with her musical life, Bullock is also a prominent voice for social consciousness and change.

Julia is based in Munich, Germany

Download programme biography   

Representation

Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

Season Highlights

Sep 2024
American Modern Opera Company
Messiaen: Harawi (North American tour)
Nov 2024
Teatro Real
Handel: Theodora (Title role)
Dec 2024
Münchner Rundfunkorchester
Adams: El Niño

Video

Photos

Selected Repertoire

MahlerSymphony No. 4
Julia Bullock singing and Bobbi Jene Smith dancing in the background
Julia standing in the mid distance looking into the camera wearing a grey top and black trousers

Projects

Julia Bullock & AMOC Harawi

The American Modern Opera Company (AMOC) is thrilled to present a new staging of Harawi, Olivier Messiaen’s deeply affecting, hour-long song cycle for soprano and piano. Messiaen’s musical explorations of love and death will take on a newly physicalised and theatrical dimension through the choreographic work of Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber direction by Zack Winokur and with lighting design by John Torres.

Learn about this project
  • Julia Bullock singing and Bobbi Jene Smith dancing in the background

    Projects

    Julia Bullock & AMOC Harawi

    The American Modern Opera Company (AMOC) is thrilled to present a new staging of Harawi, Olivier Messiaen’s deeply affecting, hour-long song cycle for soprano and piano. Messiaen’s musical explorations of love and death will take on a newly physicalised and theatrical dimension through the choreographic work of Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber direction by Zack Winokur and with lighting design by John Torres.

    Learn about this project
  • Julia standing in the mid distance looking into the camera wearing a grey top and black trousers

    Projects

    Julia Bullock - History's Persistent Voice

    History’s Persistent Voice is Julia's Bullock mixed-media performance piece, bringing together the experiences, words and music of Black American artists. In this collaborative project, with each new city in which it is performed, a new commission by a local composer is added to the programme. The performance is then accompanied by video installations designed by visual artist Hana S. Kim alongside readings from Black American poets and writers.

    Learn about this project

News

Press

  • Anthony & Cleopatra

    Liceu Barcelona
    Oct 2023
    • Y es en la fragilidad de los personajes donde afloran los momentos más emocionantes gracias a la íntima conexión de texto y música que el barítono Gerald Finley y la soprano Julia Bullock aprovechan para mostrar un amplio abanico de matices y colores vocales. Ha tenido suerte el Liceu con Bullock; Adams escribió el papel de Cleopatra específicamente para esta gran cantante y actriz, pero no pudo asumirlo en el estreno en San Francisco por su reciente maternidad, así que lo ha interpretado por primera vez en el coliseo de la Rambla y, la verdad, es un grandísimo papel, agotador y exigente, que culmina con un último encuentro con su amante y una escena del suicidio de gran impacto. [TRANSLATED] it is in the fragility of the characters where the most exciting moments emerge thanks to the intimate connection of text and music that the baritone Gerald Finley and the soprano Julia Bullock take advantage of to show a wide range of nuances and vocal colors. The Liceu has been lucky with Bullock; Adams wrote the role of Cleopatra specifically for this great singer and actress, but she could not take it on at the premiere in San Francisco due to her recent motherhood, so she performed it for the first time at the Rambla Coliseum and, the truth is, it is a great role, exhausting and demanding, which culminates with a last meeting with his lover and a suicide scene of great impact.

    • Attribuons en définitive le relatif succès de la soirée à la qualité des voix. Julia Bullock interprète Cleopatra avec conviction et franchise. Sauf au cours de la scène d’amour, au début de la pièce, et des dialogues avec ses servantes, elle obscurcit sa voix, donnant ainsi la distance nécessaire entre une reine et le monde extérieur. [TRANSLATED] Ultimately, we attribute the relative success of the evening to the quality of the voices. Julia Bullock plays Cleopatra with conviction and frankness. Except during the love scene, at the beginning of the play, and the dialogues with her servants, she obscures her voice, thus giving the necessary distance between a queen and the outside world.

    • Adams avait écrit le rôle de Cléopâtre en pensant à Julia Bullock, dont la maternité ne lui permit pas de participer à la création à San Francisco. Elle a dû donc arriver à Barcelone pour marquer le rôle de son enivrante personnalité. Sa voix possède toute la volupté que l’on pourrait imaginer pour un personnage aussi légendaire, sa figure est également idéale pour le rôle et son jeu fait preuve d’une aisance corporelle sans bornes. [TRANSLATED] Adams had written the role of Cleopatra with Julia Bullock in mind, but she was unable to take part in the San Francisco premiere due to maternity leave. So she had to come to Barcelona to stamp her intoxicating personality on the role. Her voice has all the voluptuousness one could imagine for such a legendary character, her figure is equally ideal for the role and her acting displays boundless physical ease.