Julie is a native of Worcester, MA, a city which is so much like Hagerstown that she sometimes forgets she’s not from here until she hears someone pronounce the letter “R.” She started playing percussion in a Drum & Bugle Corps at the tender age of eight and spent her final summer in the activity as Timpanist with The Boston Crusaders. After over a decade of marching, she excitedly made the shift to orchestral percussion and spent a life-altering summer at Tanglewood. She has enjoyed a career that meshes her rudimental and classical training. After summers in Breckenridge, CO, Japan and Italy where she had the surreal honor of performing for Pavarotti, she was abruptly shipped off to boot camp after winning a coveted job with The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own.”
She “retired” after 23 years of service, 17 as Principal Timpanist. She continues to enjoy playing Percussion with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra (MSO), the Blossom Festival Band in Cuyahoga Falls, OH, The Venice (FL) Symphony, and as Timpanist of The Brass Band of Battle Creek. Her MSO highlights include the recording Chris Brubeck’s “Affinity” with Grammy Award-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin, the PBS feature “Music to my Ears” with “Bob the Vid Tech” and as soloist in “Gerald McBoing Boing” by Gail Kubik/Dr. Seuss.
