Julia Soojin Cavallaro, mezzo-soprano, is an accomplished solo and ensemble singer whose repertoire spans oratorio, opera, art song, and choral music. Critics have praised her “warm mezzo, perfect diction, and easy phrasing” (New York Classical Review) and “round, chocolaty tone” (Boston Classical Review).

Born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Julia grew up in an Italian and Korean American home filled with music and art. She earned an AB in Music from Harvard College and MusM in Voice Performance from the Boston University College of Fine Arts. She also attended young artist training programs at the Amherst Early Music Festival, Boston Early Music Festival, Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, Longy School of Music of Bard College, and Vancouver Early Music Festival.

As a professional choral artist, Julia sings frequently with leading ensembles in New England and beyond, including the Handel and Haydn Society, Ensemble Altera, Upper Valley Baroque, and GRAMMY-nominated groups Skylark Vocal Ensemble and True Concord Voices & Orchestra. Reviewers have highlighted her ensemble work, writing, “Julia Cavallaro’s mezzo-soprano voice possesses a distinctive, beautiful quality all her own. As an ensemble singer, she is able to convey variations in vocal color, enhancing the blend” (The Concord Journal).

Her oratorio solo highlights include Bach’s Magnificat, Mass in B minor, and St. John Passion; Handel’s Messiah; Mozart’s Requiem and Vespers; and Vivaldi’s Gloria and Dixit Dominus. Reviewers have lauded her interpretation of Baroque music in particular: “Singing throughout her range with a pure and lovely tone, she knows how to shape and ornament a vocal line with just the right amount of freedom… Her ability to ring changes in vocal characterization from dramatic narration to hopeful expectation to passionate outcry to cheerful moralizing was astonishing” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer).

Her stage roles include Cupid in Blow’s Venus & Adonis with New Camerata Opera, Madame de Volanges in Susa’s The Dangerous Liaisons with Boston Opera Collaborative, and the Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas with the Harvard Early Music Society. Her rendition of Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben in a site-specific, immersive staging with Boston Opera Collaborative was hailed by Boston Classical Review as one of its Top Ten Performances of 2017. Critics also commended her portrayal of Cupid in Venus & Adonis, writing, “Julia Cavallaro was a model of consistency, bringing a firm, warm mezzo, perfect diction, and easy phrasing as Cupid” (New York Classical Review) and “[she] excelled by means of humor and superb diction” (Voce di Meche).

An avid recitalist and chamber musician, Julia specializes in early music, art song, and contemporary repertoire. She has appeared numerous times with Renaissance ensembles Schola Cantorum of Boston and Seven Times Salt, and will join 17th-century ensemble In Stile Moderno for the first time in 2024. She often collaborates with composers and pianists Rodney Lister and John McDonald. Past recital programs range from Babbitt to Brahms, Fauré to Finzi, Poulenc to Purcell, Satie to Schumann, and more. She also composes for voice, piano, and chamber ensemble. Her work has been premiered at Tufts University and as part of Art Song Lab in Vancouver, BC.

Julia is an experienced church musician and currently sings with the Choir of the Church of the Advent in Beacon Hill, Boston. Formerly a staff singer at Trinity Church in the City of Boston, she joined them on two tours of England, in residence at Westminster Abbey and the Cathedrals of Salisbury, Wells, and Winchester. She has also served as an alto section leader for several Episcopal churches in Connecticut: Christ Church New Haven, St. Mark’s New Canaan, St. Thomas’s New Haven, and the Episcopal Church at Yale.

In addition to her performing career, Julia has worked for fifteen years in arts administration. Through this work, she strives to support music education at the highest level for students of many ages and diverse backgrounds. In her current role, as Vice President of Marketing and User Experience for Artusi: Interactive Music Theory & Aural Skills, she helps music educators and students use Artusi’s innovative platform to teach and learn music theory, ear training, and sight singing. Past positions include Administrative Coordinator for the Tufts University Department of Music and Program Director at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education.

Julia lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband, Dan Cottle. In her spare time, she enjoys reading graphic novels, watching films, and snuggling with her cats, Bun and Gin.