Biography
From Seattle, Washington, Julia Pyke is Principal Flute of the Spokane Symphony. Julia has also performed with the Oregon Symphony, New World Symphony, and members of the Cleveland Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony. She has performed under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas, Marin Alsop, Larry Rachleff, John Adams, Hans Graf, Tim Weiss, Hugh Wolff, Markus Stenz, Andre Boreyko, and Ludovic Morlot.
​
Julia has been a fellow of the Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra at the Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, and Texas Music Festival. While at Aspen Music Festival, she was named runner-up for the woodwind concerto competition, and while at Music Academy of the West, she was a finalist for both the Duo Competition and the Keston MAX audition in partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra.
​
She has been featured as a soloist performing Christopher Rouse’s Flute Concerto with the Spokane Symphony, and as the winner of SFCM's Brass & Woodwind Concerto Competition, she performed Lowell Liebermann's Flute Concerto with the SFCM Orchestra in 2021. She was also selected for several Danenberg Honors Recitals while at Oberlin, and for the 2019 Oberlin Orchestra tour at Carnegie Hall.
An avid music educator, Julia has previously held the position of Adjunct Professor of Flute at both Whitworth and Eastern Washington Universities. She currently maintains a private flute studio in Spokane, and is also a featured teacher on virtual lesson platform Forte in partnership with the Aspen Music Festival. Her students have won the MusicFest Young Artist Competition and play in the Spokane Youth Symphony.
​
Julia's primary teachers include Timothy Day, former Principal Flute of the San Francisco Symphony, and Dr. Alexa Still, former Principal Flute of the New Zealand Symphony. She completed a Bachelor of Music at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and a Master of Music and Professional Studies Certificate at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
​
When she's not playing the flute, Julia enjoys rock climbing, hiking, running, cooking, and singing. In Spring of 2024, she made her theater debut as Grizabella in Spokane Civic Theater's production of CATS.