The Columbus Indiana Philharmonic has appointed Julia Johnson principal harpist, following auditions held Nov. 15, 2023.
“I am so excited to start working with the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic,” Johnson says. “I feel grateful and humbled to get to develop my orchestral skills [with this ensemble]. I spent a lot of my time in my undergrad learning orchestral excerpts and now I get the opportunity to perform these pieces. This upcoming season, I will get to perform Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration, which are both dream pieces of mine.”
Johnson has performed as a soloist with the American Fork Symphony, the Utah Valley Symphony, the Utah Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Utah Symphony, and the Jacobs School of Music Chamber Orchestra. She is a three-time prize winner of the American Harp Society National Competition and was most recently awarded third prize in the Advanced Division in Los Angeles in 2023.
Johnson will begin her Master of Music in Harp Performance this fall, studying with Elzbieta Szmyt at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She graduated with high honors from the Jacobs School of Music in 2024 with a Bachelor of Music in Harp Performance, as well as a Performer’s Certificate and Certificate in Entrepreneurship.
