JULIA ADAMS was born in New York City and began her musical studies in the public schools of Greensboro, North Carolina, with Kim Harriman. She received her B.A. degree in Music from Oberlin College and her M.A. with a performance emphasis from San Francisco State College. She received an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Colby College in l986. Her teachers have included Ralph Hersh, Ferenc Molnar and Lillian Fuchs.

Ms. Adams was a violist with Title III Music in Maine, principal violist of the Northeast Chamber Orchestra, the Eastern Philharmonic Orchestra and the Portland Symphony Orchestra. In 1969 she became a founding member of The Portland String Quartet. Since l986, she and her colleagues have served as Artists in Residence at Colby College. Ms. Adams also teaches on the applied faculties of Bates and Bowdoin Colleges and the Portland Conservatory of Music.

Concertos dedicated to and/or premiered by her include “Concerto for Viola and Orchestra” by Norman Cazden, “Concerto for Violin and Viola” by Robert kelly, “Concerto for Violin and Viola” by William Matthews, “Concerto for String Quartet” by Walter Piston, and “Poem for Electric Viola and Orchestra” by Jonathan Hallstrom. She performed as guest artist with the Cuarteto Lima on its l997 concert series in Lima, Peru, and returned there as guest clinician for Peru’s Primer Festival de Viola in May of 2002.

Her “Scale Studies for the Intermediate Violist” and “Holiday Music for Strings” have been published by Ludwig Music Publishers of Cleveland, Ohio.

The Quartet | Paul Ross | Steve Kecskemethy | Ronald Lantz | Julia Adams