Julian Wachner
Julian Wachner is a versatile and energetic musician active as a conductor, composer, and keyboardist. Since 2011, he has been music director at New York's influential Trinity Wall Street Church.
Wachner was born in Los Angeles in 1969 and grew up in the city's Hollywood neighborhood in a musical household. He started piano and cello lessons at age four at the University of Southern California, and then went to New York at nine to study composition at the Saint Thomas Choir School. He attended the Boston University College of Fine Arts, studying composition with Lukas Foss, among others. He also took organ lessons to gain experience as a choir director at the university's Marsh Chapel. While in school, he co-founded the Boston Bach Ensemble, and he also directed the Back Bay Chorale and the Providence Signers in Rhode Island. In 1996, he earned a D.M.A. from Boston University and was hired as an assistant professor of sacred music at the university's School of Theology in 1999. In 2001, he moved to Montreal to join the faculty at McGill University. There too, he founded new ensembles -- the Schulich Singers and the Bach-Academie de Montréal -- and conducted choirs and instrumental ensembles both at the university and in the community. He also composed and premiered an opera, Evangeline Revisited, marking the 250th anniversary of the expulsion of the Acadians from the Maritime region.
Wachner was named director of the Washington Chorus in 2008, and in 2011 he left McGill to become the music director at Trinity Wall Street. This position put him at the helm of three performing organizations: the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, the Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and NOVUS NY, a contemporary music ensemble. New York offered him many opportunities for the performance of his music, including secular as well as sacred pieces; he has described his style as lying "between the Apollonian world of church music and the academy and the Dionysian world of opera and the stage." With the Trinity College Choir, Wachner appeared in 2013 on the Rolling Stones' "50 and Counting" tour. Wachner has guest conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra and the San Francisco Opera and has appeared at numerous summer festivals. Two volumes of Wachner's music appeared on the Naxos label: in 2010 and 2014, and he also has a large catalog of recordings as a conductor, with many of these have focused on contemporary music. In 2020, he was heard with NOVUS NY and the Choir of Trinity Wall Street on the world premiere recording of Ellen Reid's opera p r i s m. In 2018, Wachner became the artistic director of Michigan's Grand Rapids Bach Festival.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Discography
10 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Julia Wolfe: Anthracite Fields
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Ashley Bathgate, Mark Stewart, Bang On A Can, Julian Wachner
Classical - Released by Cantaloupe Music on 25 Sep 2015
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ellen Reid: p r i s m
Julian Wachner, The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Novus NY
Classical - Released by UMC - Decca Gold on 23 Aug 2019
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strum: Music for Strings
Unknown Artist, Catalyst Quartet, PUBLIQuartet, Jessie Montgomery, Julian Wachner
Classical - Released by Azica Records on 30 Oct 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Complete Motets, BWV 118 & 225-230
The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Julian Wachner
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by Musica Omnia on 27 Sep 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Christmas with the Washington Chorus ( Traditional - Julian Wachner - David Willcocks)
Classical - Released by Dorian Sono Luminus on 28 Sep 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Elena Ruehr: Averno
Julian Wachner, Marguerite Krull, Stephen Salters
Classical - Released by AVIE Records on 11 Sep 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Christmas Oratorio
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by Musica Omnia on 10 Nov 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wachner: Sacred Music
The Boston Bach Ensemble, Timothy Macri, Julian Wachner, Unknown Artist
Classical - Released by ARSIS Audio on 19 Dec 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ralf Yusuf Gawlick: Missa gentis humanæ, Op. 16
Mass Text, The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Julian Wachner
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by Musica Omnia on 12 Aug 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wachner, J.: Triptych & Clarinet Concerto
Orchestre Metropolitain, Julian Wachner, Philippe Bélanger, Scott Andrews, McGill Chamber Orchestra
Classical - Released by ATMA Classique on 3 Jan 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo