Born in 1991 to a musical family, cellist Julian Schwarz is already being recognized as one of the finest cellists now before the public. In August 2013 he won the first prize in the inaugural Schoenfeld International String Competition in Hong Kong.

Mr. Schwarz made his orchestral debut at the age of 11 playing the Saint-Saens Concerto No. 1 with the Seattle Symphony and his father, Gerard Schwarz, on the podium. Since then he has appeared as soloist with the Virginia, Omaha, Hartford, Puerto Rico, Grand Rapids, Columbus, San Diego, Memphis, Sarasota, Springfield MA, Syracuse, Boca Raton, Chesapeake, Greensboro, Seattle, Wichita, Binghamton, UNLV, and Las Cruces Symphonies, as well as many regional orchestras from the Pacific Northwest. In winter of 2010 he was one of the featured soloists on an extensive US tour with the Moscow State Radio Symphony Orchestra, performing 13 concerts on East and West coasts, as well as the deep South.

Upcoming performance highlights include concerto appearances with the Modesto, Queensland, Toledo, Amarillo, Hartford, and Charlotte Symphonies, the Louisville Orchestra, the Northwest Sinfonietta, and the Symphony Silicon Valley. In Fall 2013 he was a featured soloist with the All Star Orchestra for national public television, performing the Samuel Jones Cello Concerto. After broadcast, the performance was released as a DVD on the Naxos label.

Julian Schwarz has performed solo recitals in Los Angeles, San Diego, Palm Springs, New York, Greensboro, High Point, Tacoma, Aspen, Seattle, St Thomas USVI, and at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico. In summer 2009 he was the "Featured Young Artist" at both the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival and the Seattle Chamber Music Society. He has appeared at the Verbier, Bellingham, Aspen, Interlochen, Encore music festivals, and in Pollack and Weill Halls as part of the Montreal International String Quartet Festival and a Carnegie Hall workshop, respectively. Summer 2014 includes performances as faculty at the Eastern Music Festival, and at the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival. In August, he returns to the pianoSonoma festival for his 3rd summer as an Artist in Residence.

In 2007 Mr. Schwarz was appointed assistant conductor of the Lake Union Civic Orchestra under Christophe Chagnard. In his two years as assistant he led the orchestra in Borodin's Second Symphony and Dukas' Sorcerer's Apprentice at Seattle's Town Hall. He returned to LUCO as cellist in 2010 for a performance of the Elgar Concerto.

Mr. Schwarz was profiled in the Spring '09 cover story of Teen Strings Magazine, the July '11 cover story of GoTriad Magazine, and has been featured on the acclaimed NPR radio program "From the Top." He has recorded twice for the Naxos Label: a world premier recording of Gerard Schwarz's "In Memoriam" (2006) and a recording of traditional concertos (2009). In 2011, a live recording of his Brahms Double concerto was limitedly released by WCPE Greensboro.

Mr. Schwarz is an advocate for contemporary music and has premiered many works for chamber ensembles as well as solo cello. Of particular note were the premiers of Henri Lazarof's Piano Quartet (2008), Samuel Jones' Cello Concerto (2010), and Richard Danielpour's "A Prayer for Our Time" for cello and orchestra (2013).

Julian Schwarz started piano lessons at the age of five and began his cello studies the following year with the late David Tonkonogui; subsequent teachers have included the late Toby Saks, Lynn Harrell, Paul Coletti, Neal Cary, Arnold Steinhardt, Andre Roy, Ronald Leonard at the Colburn School in Los Angeles and Joel Krosnick at the Juilliard School.


Guest Artists List