Julia Castellanos is an American violinist and teacher, originally from Ridgewood, New Jersey, USA. Since completing her bachelor’s degree in 2009, Julia has been teaching violin in both group and individual settings.  Since 2009, she has been teaching violin classes for children ages 8-17 in several El Sistema USA programs both in Baltimore, Maryland and Newark, New Jersey.  She is currently a teaching artist with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, giving remote classes to students in Newark, New Jersey.  She currently operates a home studio in the Donostia neighborhood of Igara.

Julia embarked on her Suzuki teacher training journey in 2020 in the UK, and has completed two levels of Suzuki training through the British Suzuki Music Institute with Heather Clemson in Birmingham, UK. She has been fortunate to work with many incredible teacher trainers through the British Suzuki Music Institute, including Heather Clemson and Margaret Parkin.  She looks forward to achieving full Suzuki teaching qualifications by completing her Level 3 certification in Spain in the coming academic year.  Julia has three higher education degrees in performance: a bachelors in violin performance from the University of New Hampshire (2009), a masters degree in music therapy and performance from the Colorado State University (2016), and a masters degree in orchestral studies from Musikene in San Sebastián (2022).  

As a performer, Julia has extensive orchestral performance experience throughout the USA and Europe.  From 2014-2017, she auditioned into the violin sections of the Fort Collins Symphony (Colorado, USA), Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra (Colorado, USA), and the Cheyene Symphony Orchestra (Wyoming, USA). In 2017, she was selected to play in the prestigious National Repertory Orchestra (Colorado, USA), and in was 2019 awarded a fellowship to perform at the Round Top Festival Institue (Texas, USA).  She has participated in music festivals in Lesvos, Greece; Prague, Czech Republic; and Hot Springs, Arkansas.  Among other orchestras, Julia has performed with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic (New York, USA), the Orchestra of Saint John the Evangelist (UK), and the Basque National Orchestra and the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra in Spain.  Julia also appeared in recital at Harris Manchester College at Oxford University, and was a visiting performing artist at NHS inpatient hospitals in Oxford, UK, as well as Johns Hopkins University Children’s Hospital in Baltimore. Among her many violin mentors are Pamela Hentges (National Symphony Orchestra, Washington D.C.), Mary Ann Mumm (Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), and Keng Yuen Tseng (Peabody Conservatory).