‘Deep and ingenious music-making of great perfection’
Kölner Stadtsanzeiger
As a cellist criss-crossing the globe, Julia Tom has distinguished herself as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral musician. A finalist at the ARD Munich Competition, Julia has performed as soloist with numerous orchestras in America and Europe, including the San Francisco Symphony and Bach Society Orchestra.
A member of the Concertgebouw Orchestra since 2010, she was awarded the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s Prix de Salon in 2016. Her prize-winning CD, Origins, came out in 2019 on the Etcetera label.
In recent years, Julia has sought out ways to bring her twin loves of music and nature closer together. Believing that music is a human birthright, she has looked for its roots in human culture, exploring folk music’s central role in every old culture’s celebration and storytelling. Her latest CD, Origins, shines a light on classical works that draw inspiration from folk origins. In her blog, Modern Folk, Julia finds and films folk musicians who, against the backdrop of modern life, still make music and pass it onto their children as has been done for centuries before them.
Julia has also turned her eye to the realm of the musicians’ physique, discovering in Dispokinesis principles of human mechanics and anatomy that can help all musicians make music with ease, in close contact with their own natural abilities. Since completing her Dispokinesis training, she has taught this set of principles and exercises to countless students and colleagues in Europe and North America.
Julia is also passionate about action on climate change, founding the Green New Deal NL organization in 2018.
Dispokinesis
Julia’s passion for cello playing has been joined by an interest in understanding the human body that makes the music. Over the past decades spent in the musical profession, she saw questions of “best use” of the body – often ignored at the start of musicians’ working lives – play an increasing determining role in the development and sustainability of careers.