Julia Dollison

Julia Dollison signs on with ArtistShare!
Grammy award-winning online music environment ArtistShare joins forces with Julia in support of her next recording, “Lifted,” a collaboration with extraordinary jazz pianist Geoffrey Keezer.
Click here to participate in the “Lifted” project!
Six years ago, the Washington Post called Julia Dollison "a deeply musical virtuoso with an airy, luminous voice." Last year, the Wall Street Journal and Jazz Times magazine praised her debut CD Observatory as “richly imaginative” and “rare… fresh and substantive,” respectively. The Sacramento Bee described her singing as “rich and dexterous… a true original.”
Today, Dollison's uniquely personal brand of jazz is delighting club-goers and concert audiences throughout the U.S. and Canada. So far this year, she's performed as a guest with the Grammy award-winning Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, appeared by invitation at the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE) in New York, premiered a concerto written for her by pianist Geoffrey Keezer, and was a featured headliner at the Dave Brubeck Jazz Festival in Northern California this past spring.
Since being named DownBeat's Best Jazz Vocal Soloist in 2000, Dollison has been heard at such New York clubs as Tavern on the Green, Sweet Rhythm, Cornelia Street Cafe, Detour, Cleopatra's Needle, New Leaf Cafe, the Zinc Bar, S.O.B.'s, and the Bottom Line. She's shared the stage with Jamey Aebersold, Gene Bertoncini, Bob Dorough, Christian McBride, Mark Murphy, Lewis Nash, Dianne Reeves, Ira Sullivan, and Kenny Wheeler, as well as pop artist and fellow University of Miami alumnus Jon Secada, and has sung with Erich Kunzel and the Naples Philharmonic.
Currently an adjunct member at Sacramento State University, Dollison was previously on the faculty at the New School University in New York, and Florida's University of Miami, where she earned her B.M. and M.M. degrees in studio music and jazz performance, teaching with a full assistantship while earning her graduate degree. While there, she was featured in various award-winning Miami jazz ensembles, performing at IAJE conventions in New York (1998) and New Orleans (2000). She has since been invited to return as a solo artist to conferences in Toronto (2003), Long Beach (2005) and New York (2007).
A classically trained soprano, Dollison sang the solos in Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms under Michael Tilson Thomas and played the title role in Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors. She's also appeared in the "Voices of Liberty" show at Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center, where she was featured as a main park attraction.
An experienced studio singer, Dollison can be heard on the film score of The Stepford Wives (DreamWorks 2004), the film trailer for Vera Drake (Fine Line Cinema 2004), and commercials for Disney World, Pier One Imports, and Radio City Music Hall.