About Julie

Julie Cavanagh received her first musical education at the age of 3 when her mother cut out cardboard notes from a cereal box for Julie to arrange on a big stave, then played her the results. She began to learn the violin aged 6 and joined the local church choir aged 8 - where her father was a member. The first composition she remembers writing was a solo for violin at the age of about 9. Alas that is long since lost to time. From the age of 14 Julie had piano lessons from the famous concert pianist Katrina George, achieving Grade 8 in just 4 years. She regularly performed on both the violin and piano, at Blackpool Music Festival. She attended Baines School and Sixth Form, and was an enthusiastic participant in the musical life of the school, singing in the choir, and leading the orchestra and string quartet. Her first composition for SATB (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass) was at the age of 16, a setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis for her GCSE Music. She received the Governors’ Prize for her contributions to Music on leaving the Sixth Form. She studied Music at Roehampton Institute, at the time an affiliate college of the University of Surrey. Whilst at Roehampton, she chose composing as a specialist study, writing a full-scale Requiem for SATB choir, soloists and orchestra, for which she received a first. After graduating, Julie qualified as a Music teacher, working in multiple schools over the North West as well as teaching piano and music theory privately. She established and directed Yu-Neek, a youth choir in the Blackpool area. Julie has composed songs for Yu-Neek and school choirs and has set a selection of the children's poetry of Kenn Nesbitt to music. She is also writing a full-length children’s musical called Storyland, which she hopes to get staged when it is finished. On this she says, “If anyone knows Cameron Mackintosh, get in touch!” After a break to raise her family, she currently works in the Civil Service as a Project Manager. Julie is currently learning Italian and enjoys making ice-cream in her new ice-cream maker, which her family enjoys eating!