After her debut of Carl Orff’s »Carmina Burana« in Herkulessaal Munich, Julia Sophie Wagner quickly became a sought after concert singer, specializing in the vocal works of J. S. Bach. Recently also praised for her interpretations of the major classic and romantic oratorios, her debut of Beethoven »Missa Solemnis«, which she performed at Kennedy Center Washington under the baton of Julian Wachner, was voted »#1 Kennedy Center Event of 2014« by Washington Life Magazine.
Ms. Wagner has worked with renowned orchestras including the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Munich Chamber Orchestra, RTVE Madrid, RAI Torino and Washington National Symphony Orchestra, Bachkollegium Stuttgart and Munich, as well as with baroque ensembles such as Ensemble Moderntimes_1800, Bachstiftung St. Gallen, Pratum Integrum Moscow, Collegium 1704 and Tafelmusik Toronto. Many of these concerts were recorded for radio and television, as well as for CD and DVD.
Concert tours and guest appearances have brought her all over Europe as well as to the United States, to South America Japan and China, where she performed at venues like Berlin Philharmonie, Palau de la Musica Barcelona, Kennedy Center Washington and Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, to name a few. Ms. Wagner is frequently invited to international festivals, such as the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Mendelssohn Festtage and the Bachfest Leipzig, Tage alter Musik Herne, the Oregon Bach Festival, and the European Music Festival Stuttgart, the Rheingau Music Festival and Festival de la Chaise-Dieu.
Julia Sophie Wagner enjoys a fruitful musical friendship with Helmuth Rilling. After a successful tour through Germany performing Bach’s b-minor mass at the Liederhalle Stuttgart and the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden amongst other places, she was invited to sing a series of concerts with Bach solo cantatas in Italy, followed by a tour throughout South America with the ensembles of the Bach Academy Stuttgart. In recent years maestro Rilling regularly invited her to the Weimar Bach Cantata Academies, she also sang with him in Moscow (Tchaikowsky Hall) and the US.
The music of Johann Sebastian Bach being one main focus of her work, Julia Sophie Wagner also follows her passion for chamber music. She gave various recitals and chamber concerts at the Leipzig Bach Festival, the Chamber Music Festival Hohenstaufen, the Tonhalle Zurich, as well as in Japan, oftentimes designing her programs in a way that the interpretation receives another layer through juxtaposition of certain composers or aspects of music history and the likes. Paul Rivinius, Goetz Payer and Eric Schneider are amongst her musical partners.
With Eric Schneider she recently recorded the CD »Leipziger Schule« in co-production with the German national radio station DeutschlandradioKultur, highlighting the relationship of Clara and Robert Schumann with Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. The CD was presented at the Leipzig Bachfest and received highest praise both from public and press.
Composer and pianist Steffen Schleiermacher is her musical partner for works of the 20th and 21st century, recent projects were a recital with two song cycles by Olivier Messiaen and participation in a TV production on Russian avant-garde music.
Her ensemble »Sweet Bird« (with Tatjana Ruhland, flute, and Christian Schmitt, organ/piano) has quickly gained reputation for in depth programming and interesting arrangements.
Julia Sophie Wagner studied at the Hochschule für Musik »Franz Liszt« in Weimar with Prof. V. Hruba-Freiberger, at McGill University in Montreal, Canada with Dr. Robert and Lucile Evans and graduated with honors from HMT »Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy« in Leipzig as a student of Prof. Hans-Joachim Beyer whom she still consults regularly. She attended master classes of Peter Schreier, Graham Johnson and Ingrid Figur and has repeatedly worked with Edith Wiens. Julia Sophie Wagner has won several national and international competitions, including the International Mozart Competition in Prague, the Paula Salomon-Lindberg Competition for contemporary song in Berlin and the Lortzing Competition Leipzig and has been awarded scholarships from the DAAD (German Government) and the Leipzig Opera, where she sang in several productions, including Le Feu and Rossignol in Ravel’s “L’enfant et les Sortileges” and Anna Reich in Otto Nicolai’s “Merry Wives of Windsor”.