b.1980

Knoxville, TN

Jacksonville University

Director of Choral Activities

Julian is the Director of Choral Activities at Jacksonville University (FL). He was previously Associate Professor of Fine and Applied Arts at Curry College in Milton, MA and earned his DMA in choral conducting from the University of Kentucky under the guidance of Jefferson Johnson and Lori Hetzel.  His dissertation focused on collectively organized choirs, including New York’s C4 and Triad: Boston's Choral Collective, of which Julian was a founding member.  

At JU, Julian leads the University Singers and Choral Union and teaches courses in Conducting, Music Education, Musical Theatre, and Music Appreciation. He founded and facilitates the student-led, new music choral collective Infinitus, the first collegiate member of the C4 Network. Fellow faculty members have nominated him for Professor of the Year and Faculty Excellence Awards in Teaching and University Service, and he won 2nd Place in The American Prize Dale Warland Award for Choral Conducting.

His work at Curry included leading two choirs and teaching various music and arts electives including Introduction to Fine Arts, Western Classical Music, Music in Film, and Music Theory:  Songwriting.  He helped to design and teach an interdisciplinary course for Curry's inaugural First Year Inquiry program entitled Monstrous: Within/Without.  In 2019, Curry’s Excellence in Teaching Committee awarded him for “Excellence and Scholarship in the Field”.

Julian taught musicians at the Randolph School of Huntsville, AL and the Carlisle School of Martinsville, VA, while also accompanying community, regional, and state music events including Alabama and Kentucky All-State Choirs.  He has served as musical director for a range of productions including Carmen, The Mikado, The Light in the Piazza, Oliver, Urinetown, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

An active composer and arranger, Julian holds degrees in conducting and composition from the University of Tennessee, studying with David Stutzenberger, Angela Batey, and Kenneth Jacobs. He has been named a Finalist for The American Prize in Professional Choral Composition three times, including a third place finish for The Field (ubi caritas). A Parable of Choices won the Yale Glee Club Emerging Composers Competition, Redemption Mass won the American Choral Directors Association Brock Memorial Student Composition Competition, and the Florida Vocal Association commissioned Clarion Call for their All-State Men’s Chorus and Concert Band.  Other works have appeared on recitals and concerts across the southeast, winning awards, performances, and commissions from Minnesota State University Moorhead, Jacksonville University, the San Jacinto College Choir, Hazel Green United Methodist Church, UK Men's Chorus, The Voices of Jacksonville, College Music Society, Southeastern Composers' League, University of Tennessee, Youth Performing Arts School of Louisville, Catholic Diocese of Lexington Choir Festival, Huntsville Community Chorus Association, First Baptist Church of Huntsville, Roane Choral Society, Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers, and the Society of Composers.

Julian’s first musical performance took place on the back of a pew, where as a toddler he played imaginary duets with the church pianist every Sunday. His parents promised to give him piano lessons when his feet could reach the pedals, and at the age of 8, he sat on the bench, stretched as far as he possibly could and just barely brushed the brass. Lessons began immediately. Decades later, he can easily reach the pedals (he can now even reach the keyboard at the same time) but instead prefers to stretch the boundaries of choral music. He enjoys discussing theology and politics, making guacamole, watching Star Trek (literally every episode), RuPaul’s Drag Race, and TikTok videos, spending time in the gym, and most of all, his husband Ariel.