Julie Cross
Julie Cross
Director of Choral Activities, Visiting Assistant Professor
Miller Fine Arts 131
I am a versatile musician who has worked with all ages and genres of music. Here at Linfield, I direct Concert Choir and Cascara Voce (our treble choir), teach voice and piano lessons, and teach other music courses like class piano, class voice and music fundamentals. I've been a voice teacher, choir director, musical theatre director, church music director and accompanist in my musical life. Though my training has been traditionally classical, I have worked with all genres of music, and enjoy teaching students with many varied musical interests from jazz to musical theatre to pop or rock.
My performance interests are broad. For the past 10 years, I’ve been working at the Lake Chelan Bach Festival in beautiful Chelan, Washington, first as alto soloist and now as choir director as well. I have performed all over the country and have offered master classes and lectures with a special interest in the topic of women in music. I have sung for national and international conferences and annual concerts with the International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM) and was a two-term treasurer for their organization. I’ve performed with Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Seattle Choral Consortium, Abendmusik (NE), Omaha Symphony Orchestra, Ann Arbor (MI) Festival of Song, have been on live radio broadcasts for the Wisconsin NPR station and have two recordings, one of which received a positive review in the New York Times (Albany Records). As a choir director, organist and former church musician, I have worked for many denominations and most recently served as music director for St. Luke’s~San Lucas Episcopal Church in Vancouver, WA.
I went to a liberal arts college, Oberlin College, for my undergrad. Liberal arts colleges are such important gems in higher education. I love being able to offer students individualized support and education. I also enjoy the fact that many of my students in music classes are minors and nonmajors, folks who plan to make music a large part of their lives even if not their main careers. In the music department, we love involving students of all majors in our classes and ensembles!
My hobbies include crochet, herbalism, testing cookbook recipes, walking in beautiful local nature trails and bibliophilia!
Education
- B.M. Oberlin College
- M.M. Manhattan School of Music
- D.M.A. University of Michigan