Julia Hanson

Professor of Violin

Email: [email protected]

Julia Hanson is a Tutor in Violin at the RNCM who began playing at the age of seven. She attended Chetham’s School of Music followed by the RNCM where she led the chamber orchestra and was a member of the Chagall String Quartet. She was awarded numerous prizes both for individual and chamber music during her time at the College.

Julia enjoyed a busy freelance working life with many orchestras including the City of Birmingham Symphony, Northern Sinfonia, Scottish Chamber, BBC Philharmonic, Goldberg Ensemble, English Concert , Manchester Concert orchestra and the BBC Scottish. She was a member of the Orchestra Revolutionaire and Romantique for many years touring extensively and she enjoyed her time playing with with the McFarlane string Quartet.

Julia occasionally led the Orchestra of the Golden Age and was a Guest Principal for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hallé. She had been both leader of ,and principal 2nd with the Northern Chamber Orchestra and the Manchester Camerata for over 20 years as well as playing with the contemporary group Psappha. She was also a member of the Hallé Orchestra for 10 years. In 2005 she joined the Eroica String Quartet with which she recorded and performed in Europe and America, including a recording of the original score of the Mendelssohn octet recently discovered in the library of Congress in Washington USA.

Julia has been a violin teacher for the last 25 years at Manchester University and Birmingham Conservatoire moving to the RNCM in 2013

In 2021 Julia qualified as a psychotherapist and now uses her skills form that profession to help with her violin teaching, particularly the psychology of musical performance.