Violinist Yulia Watanabe-Price is an avid orchestral and chamber musician as well as a passionate teacher. Her performances have taken her across North America to renowned stages such as Carnegie Hall, Seiji Ozawa Hall, and Symphony Hall of Boston, where she has played under the baton of distinguished conductors including Keith Lockhart, JoAnn Falletta, Christopher Warren-Green, and Carlos Iczaray. Yulia has also had the opportunity to perform in masterclasses for esteemed artists such as Miriam Fried, Daniel Phillips, Hagai Shaham, Ani Kavafian, Hsin-Yun Huang, and Catherine Cho, among others. As a freelance orchestral musician, she has performed with various groups such as the Portland Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Charleston Symphony, and Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra. Her festival performances include appearances at the Britt Music Festival, Bay Chamber Concerts Screen Door Festival, and Madeline Island Chamber Music Festival. Recent engagements have included a season with Sarasota Opera and performances with the Four Seasons Music Festival, where she was the 2023-2024 Artist Fellow. In the fall, she will join the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as a violinist for their 2024-2025 season.

Yulia’s love for chamber music has been fostered through collaborations with members of the Jupiter, Cavani, Arianna, Brooklyn Rider, Borromeo, and Juilliard String quartets. As a passionate collaborator, she has shared the stage with prominent artists like Carmit Zori, Stefan Jackiw, and Nicholas Kitchen. She has also worked with members of the Cooperstown Quartet in performances across North Carolina through the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival’s Summer Chamber Music Institute and Next Generation initiatives. As a recipient of the Community Performances and Partnerships Ensemble Fellowship at New England Conservatory, Yulia brought chamber music to audiences beyond the formal concert setting. Her quartet performed interactive educational programs for public schools throughout Boston and presented full recitals at venues such as the Boston Public Library, all featuring programs comprised exclusively of underrepresented composers.

Emphasizing the importance of performing music by living composers, Yulia performed a chamber music program of 20th and 21st-century composers, including works by Philip Glass, Caroline Shaw, Tan Dun, and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, for the Myers Park Summer Chamber Music Series. Most recently, she completed a tour performing the Grammy-nominated album A Change is Going to Come with Palaver Strings, featuring tenor Nicholas Phan. Yulia also participated in a recording project with Palaver Strings of Syrian composer Kinan Azmeh’s Syrian Dances, set for release in the winter of 2024.

A strong advocate for outreach, Yulia organized an Artist Residency in her hometown of Shelby, North Carolina, where her quartet performed educational programs for over 1,200 elementary school students, introducing them to chamber music. She also worked with local high school orchestra students, holding side-by-side rehearsals, sectionals, and career-related discussions, culminating in a final conductor-less orchestra performance. Continuing her work in bringing excellent music and arts experiences to children and audiences beyond traditional concert settings, her quartet collaborated with the Virginia Arts Festival to perform as part of their educational outreach initiative, presenting engaging programs to over 15 schools.

As a dedicated teacher, Yulia was a recipient of the Community Performances and Partnerships Teaching Fellowship at New England Conservatory and partnered with Bridge Boston to bring music to young students. She also worked with the Boston Hope Music Project, which provides private music lessons to frontline healthcare workers. As a violin instructor, Yulia is committed to sharing her love for music and helping develop the next generation of musicians and music lovers. She currently teaches at Ravinia’s El Sistema program in Lawndale and maintains an active private violin studio in the Chicago area, where she strives to foster the growth of new artists and create an inclusive, welcoming space for classical music.

Yulia completed her Bachelor’s of Music in Violin Performance at East Carolina University under the tutelage of Ara Gregorian and Hye-Jin Kim; and completed her Suzuki Pedagogy Certification with Joanne Bath. During her time at ECU, she also obtained a B.S. in Communications and a B.A. in Asian Studies. Yulia received her Master’s degree of Music in Violin Performance at New England Conservatory, where she studied under Soovin Kim. Other notable teachers and mentors over the years include Dr. Ernest Pereira of the Charlotte Symphony, Jason Horowitz of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Dr. Jorge Richter, and Suzuki violin instructor Kathy Allison.

When she is not teaching or playing the violin, Yulia enjoys spending time at a coffee shop, painting, or taking walks.