JULIA SMIRNOVA

The ICMA-awarded violinist Julia Smirnova completed both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin, where she first studied with Antje Weithaas and later with Stephan Picard. From 2023 to 2025, she was an Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium, where she worked closely with Augustin Dumay.

 

Since September 2025, Julia has been a member of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, where she combines her orchestral work with an active solo and chamber music career. 

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As a passionate chamber musician, Julia released her debut album ‘The Songs of our Neighbours‘ in 2022 together with cellist Konstantin Manaev, featuring world premiere recordings of works by Aziza Sadikova and Johanna Doderer. The album was nominated for the Opus Klassik 2022 awards in the categories ‘Best Chamber Music Recording‘ and ‘Young Artist of the Year‘. Together, the two musicians form the New Classic Duo, which explores contemporary repertoire that bridges classical and modern sound worlds.

 

Born in Komsomolsk-on-Amur (Russia), she received the DAAD Prize in 2021 as an outstanding foreign student for exceptional artistic achievement. Julia is a laureate of several international competitions, including the II Alberto Lysy Competition (Gstaad), the Ibolyka-Gyarfas-Stiftung Competition (Berlin), and the III Vladimir Spivakov International Competition (Ufa) and as a soloist, she has appeared with the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie in Mons and with the Hauptstadt-Sinfonieorchester at the Berlin Philharmonie.

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Julia has performed at numerous international festivals, including the Flagey Festival (Belgium), hören:sitzendorf, Klangwerkstatt, Romberg Festival, Randspiele in Berlin, the Encuentro de Música y Academia de Santander and Malta International Arts Festival.

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She performs on a violin by Joseph filius Andrea Guarneri (1710).