Violinist Julia Wedman brings an “infectious vitality” to music (Victoria Times Colonist). Her playing has been described as “highly communicative” and “extraordinarily lithe and intuitive” (Globe and Mail). She began her tenure as Principal Baroque Leader for Symphony Nova Scotia in 2023.

Originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Julia completed her studies in music at the University of Western Ontario, the University of Toronto, and Indiana University at Bloomington. She joined Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra in Toronto in 2005, and is regularly featured as a soloist and director with the group on their home series in Toronto as well as on tours in Canada, the US, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Germany, China, and Korea. She was a long-time member of I FURIOSI and is one quarter of the Eybler Quartet, whose discography includes music of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, in addition to rarely heard gems by Eybler, Vanhal, and Aspylmayr.

Julia’s highly acclaimed recording of Heinrich Biber’s Mystery Sonatas (Sonoluminus) was featured in Gramophone magazine, saying “Rather exceptionally, one suspects, Wedman has approached Biber’s music as a true pilgrim, interpreting key moments in the life of Christ thoughtfully, vividly and with evident personal humility and warmth. Her performances exude humanity and have about them a radiance that somehow transcends the sound of her lovely 1694 instrument.”

Performance highlights include guest concertmaster/solo debuts with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (London), the Academy of Ancient Music (London), and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century (Amsterdam), as well as in her new role as Concertmaster with the wonderful Quebec group L’Harmonie des Saisons, whose CD featuring soprano Hélène Brunet recently won a 2022 Juno Award. Julia is featured on LHDS’s Bach Concerti CD as well as their upcoming Vivaldi Concerti recording for Atma. In addition, Julia has been working intensively on the music of J.S. Bach through her work with the Toronto Bach Festival (directed by Tafelmusik oboist John Abberger), with dancer Brian Solomon and the Gallery Players of Niagara, and on her own recording of Bach’s solo music for violin.

Teaching highlights include her ongoing work at the University of Toronto, the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, and for the groundbreaking program at the Banff Centre for the Arts, EQ: Evolution Quartet, in collaboration with the Eybler, Parker, and JACK quartets, musicologist Suzannah Clarke, and composer Suzanne Farrin.