About Julie Stoessel
Professional Violinist and Orchestra Teacher
Julie Stoessel holds a Bachelor of Music from the James Madison University School of Music. She began her music career at the age of 16 with the Charlottesville High School string Quartet in Charlottesville, Virginia.
She has played professionally for the Ashlawn Highland Opera Orchestra, The Virginia Consort, Elan Artists of Washington D.C., the Perfect Harmony String Quartet, the Arlington Philharmonic, the Pan American Symphony, and the Washington Sinfonietta.
Julie studied under Wanchi Huang of James Madison University, Emil Chudnovsky of Washington D.C., and Pam Hentges, principal second violin of the National Symphony Orchestra.
She began teaching violin privately in 2008, and in the classroom setting in 2009.
Julie held the position of lower school strings teacher at the Washington Waldorf school for six years 2010-2016, and also taught high school strings there in 2020-2021.
In 2017, Julie formed "String Theory," a small high school-aged strings group active from 2017-2021 in the Washington D.C. area. During this time, she began arranging movie music for string orchestras, her students performing her arrangements in concert.
Julie has been teaching privately since 2010, and maintains her violin studio online since 2021.
She dedicates her free time to practicing her violin, singing, traveling, breakdancing, surfing, spending time in nature, and studying neuroplasticity.
A note on technique and what I can offer you as a teacher …
With my over 25 years of experience in the classical music world, I am able to offer lessons that are enjoyable and rich with coaching on technique, and that help my students play with comfort and confidence.
I started playing the violin in the 4th grade through a school program. I had group lessons only at first and moved up to first chair in my orchestra by the 7th grade through pure grit and very little coaching on technique. Though I had switched to private lessons in the 5th grade and continued with these with different teachers through high school, I always felt I was missing something.
Violin was hard, and I was nervous a lot. Even through this difficulty, I seemed to be able to practice my way into higher seating positions in orchestra and, through my high musical ability, I got away with plenty of bad habits in my technique. Though I sat as concert mistress both in high school and college, I still felt that violin seemed easier to other people and that it just shouldn’t be this hard for me!
My true passion for the violin started in high school as a member of the Charlottesville High School Orchestra, under the direction of Laura Thomas, in Charlottesville, VA. We were the first of her orchestras to travel to internationally, and this trip would leave an impression on me for the rest of my life. Laura inspired and encouraged me to continue my music career as a violinist into adulthood.
After starting my professional career as a teacher and violinist and in my post graduate studies, I began to hone my technique, and ease started to come to my playing.
Along with this knowledge on technique, I apply both my Waldorf Education, and self-study on how nervous system health relates to brain function and performance ability to each private lesson I teach.
Whether you or your child are learning from scratch or you are already a violinist looking to play at a higher level or improve your tone, it is my objective to build both ease and comfort in playing from the start, or help you shift out of old habits and to play with greater ease.
