Biography

American vocalist Julia Bullock combines versatile artistry with a probing intellect and commanding stage presence. An innovative programmer and curator, Bullock serves as opera programming host of the new broadcast channel All Arts; is a founding core member of the American Modern Opera Company (AMOC); and was 2018–19 artist-in-residence of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Chosen as one of WQXR’s “19 for 19” artists to watch last year, Bullock is also a prominent voice of social consciousness and activism. As a San Francisco Symphony Artist-in-Residence this season, Bullock performs concerts with the Orchestra and curates an April SoundBox program. She will serve as Collaborative Partner of Esa-Pekka Salonen in his inaugural season as Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony in 2020–21. She made her SFS debut in 2013.
 
Bullock has made key operatic debuts at San Francisco Opera in the world premiere of John Adams’s Girls of the Golden West, Santa Fe Opera in Adams’s Doctor Atomic, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Dutch National Opera in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, and the English National Opera, Spain’s Teatro Real, and Russia’s Bolshoi Theatre in the title role of Purcell’s The Indian Queen.
 
In concert, she has collaborated with the Boston Symphony, Japan’s NHK Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, and the Los Angeles, New York, and Berlin philharmonics. Bullock’s recital highlights include appearances at Carnegie Hall, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Cal Performances, Boston’s Celebrity Series, Washington’s Kennedy Center, and the Mostly Mozart and Ojai Music festivals, where she joined Roomful of Teeth and the International Contemporary Ensemble for the world premiere of Josephine Baker: A Portrait. This led to the creation of Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine, a work conceived by Bullock in collaboration with Peter Sellars, Tyshawn Sorey, and Claudia Rankine. Her growing discography includes Doctor Atomic, recorded with John Adams conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and West Side Story, with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, both of which were nominated for Grammy awards.
 
Bullock was born in Saint Louis, MI, and holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Bard College’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program, and the Juilliard School. She lives with her husband, conductor Christian Reif, in Munich, Germany.
 
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