BIOGRAPHY:
Julie Ziavras-

Soprano Julie Ziavras is known for her diversity of styles, ranging from opera, Broadway standards and classical art song to contemporary and traditional folk, Greek and international ballads. Classically trained, she is known for her ability to infuse a classical technique with popular and folk generes. Julie holds Bachelor and Masters degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and has coached and performed with Metropolitan Opera maestros including Gildo Di Nunzio, George Schick and Alberta Masiello. She has performed in concert, on radio and TV in the US and abroad and has been a featured artist at international song festivals.

Described as "an estimable vocalist" (New York Times), her roles include Mimi (La Boheme), Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus), La Perichole (title role), the Countess (Le nozze di Figaro), Kate (Kiss Me Kate) and Julie (Show Boat). Active as a versitile chamber musician, interpreter of sacred music and recitalist, her appearances include Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center's Bruno Walter Hall, Symphony Space Theater, Festival Theatre of New York, World Music Institute, Guggenheim Museum Soho, Alternative Museum, Bodles Opera House, Puffin Cultural Forum, Grand Montgomery Chamber Music Series, Warwick Master Arts Series, and as soloist with the Newburgh Symphony Orhestra, Manhattan Camerata Orchestra, WBAI, WNYC, and WJFF, among others.

Among her appearances abroad, she has appeared as featured artist at international festivals, including soloist in the Fiesta Internacional de las Naciones in Venezuela, the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Mexico, International Festival of Daphnis in Greece and in Montreal in a cantata written for her voice. She has premiered many works written expressly for her voice, including a contemporary song cycle written to the poetry of Walt Whitman, an off-Broadway musical of Aristophanes's The Birds, an opera based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's play Babylon Revisited. She was featured on mp3 singing a New Age vocalise written for her by Spiro Cardamis entitled New Millenium (click here to listen)which was in the number one spot in the opera category for three months and is now in their Hall of Fame. A review of this performance in The Gods of Music states that "the strings would be vapid without the incredible voice, a siren who summoned my spirit onto the rocks of musical ecstasy."

She was invited to Greece by prominent composer/music director Manos Hadjidakis to appear on Greek National Radio (ERT) as featured artist for numerous concerts and live broadcasts in varying repertoire, including popular Greek song, opera, lieder, Rennaissance song and contemporary music. This included a performance of a premiered work at the Pireus National Theater that was broadcast live nationally on ERT. She was featured soloist in an aclaimed concert tour with Greek composer Notis Mavroudis originating in Greece and culminating in Serbia. Selections of original music he wrote for her from her solo CD Simply Mavroudis were premiered with great success to an audience that followed the music with translations. These songs represent the only collection of songs Mr. Mavroudis had written exclusively for one singer. The performance was simulcast nationally on Serbian National Radio and TV. She was the creator, co-founder and featured soloist of the music café and touring ensemble "Café Acroama" in Astoria, NY, which brought fine Greek song to a vast audience of Greek Americans and non-Greeks alike. Her CD Greek Live is a compilation of live recordings from her recent performances of Greek music in the NY area.

As part of the acoustic folk duo "Ken and Julie", she accompanies herself on guitar featuring songs written for her voice by her husband, singer/songwriter Ken DeAngelis. Ken and Julie have appeared in concert and at folk venues throughout the New York metropolitan area and their music is heard internationally. Appearances include: The Puffin Cultural Forum, Bodles Opera House, Howland Center, Paramount Theater, Arden House, Riverfest, Grand Montgomery Chamber Music Series, Lycian Theater, Mohonk Mountain House, Storm King Arts Center, Seelig Theater at Sullivan County Community College, Warwick Valley Winery, NYC Donnell Library, New Rochelle Public Library, NYC Merkin Hall, Union Hall Coffeehouse, MA, American Cancer Society fund-raiser, Washington, DC, Year of the Rabbit, MD, Girdwood Folk Festival, Alaska and the Friends of Music Mansion Series. Their music has been heard on webcasts with The Art Music Coffeehouse, RelaxRadio, Perth, Australia and on Ellopia TV in Greece. Their music was chosen to be part of an international compilation album entitled "Protest Songs for a Better World, Vol. II" which receives worldwide airplay. Ken & Julie completed a concert tour with Broadway Concerts Direct of theaters in six cities in Nova Scotia, with a repertory which included opera, art song, Broadway, international and folk music. "Julie is the muse of internationally acclaimed composers. She performs their songs with world-class lyrical beauty, artistry and interpretation." (John Hiller, Broadway Concerts Direct). Ken and Julie have been recipients of the New York State Council of the Arts Grants. Ken and Julie's CD The Dream is part of the distinguished Peace Autograph Project collection at the International Museum of Peace and Solidarity in the Republic of Uzbekistan. A review of The Dream by Cindy Hill in CDReviews.com states: "The pure talent of DeAngelis and Ziavras combine to generate some real gems, sparkling with energy and life."

Link to Julie's Greek bio
Link to Julie's Greek reviews
Link to Julie's classical bio
Link to Julie's classical reviews

Julie's Reviews
"…an estimable vocalist is adding new tone and color in the heart of Greenwich Village…a pretty vocalist with a silvery voice. She held the spotlight alone, by way of introduction. Cradling her guitar, Miss Ziavras sang a variety of Greek numbers , plaintive to rhythmic, then rounded out the set with a group of English folk ballads."
-Howard Thompson, New York Times

"Ziavras masters the most difficult instrument Times Herald Record, March 18, 2003
"Soprano Julie Ziavras wowed her Montgomery listeners with her versatile voice and the variety of her repertoire from opera to folk songs…It was Ziavras, however, who highlighted the afternoon with her warm and compelling voice, appealing presence and wide range of repertoire… Opera, art songs, lieder, contemporary music written especially for her, poetry and folk songs offered ample evidence of her dramatic sense of style and personable interpretations…She sang more than 20 songs in six languages and poured her full energy into each number with virtuosity and verve…Ziavras displayed a firm coloratura in her phrasing and treble… Her version of Puccini's "Song of Doretta" from "La Rondine" was beautiful and moving.
-Dr. James F. Cotter, Times Herald Record

"Ziavras’ classically trained soprano rings particularly true on DeAngelis’ aching ballads like ‘Great Neck Farewell,’ yet blends well with DeAngelis’ folky alto in vocally complex weaves on ‘Timber Wolf.’
...all the elements are here for a highly successful folk music future for Ken and Julie: love, energy, songwriting talent, two great and diverse voices, and a community of talented musical friends ready to jump in and fill out the sound." Cindy Hill, CDReviews.com

"Julie Ziavras’ lovely, liquid voice expresses feelings of love, longing and wonder." -Steve Israel, Times Herald Record

"But the strings would be vapid without the incredible voice; a siren who summoned my spirit onto the rocks of musical ecstasy." -Armond Blackwater, Gods of Music

"Ziavras uses her rich soprano to soar in the high ranges and fill the scenes with drama." (Julie as Rosalinda in the opera Die Fledermaus) -Dr. James F. Cotter, Times Herald Record

"To this epic style of music, Ziavras brought a voice glowing with a wide range of nuances, including rich golden tones, elegant phrasing and radiant expression." Marcus Kalipolites, The Times Herald Record

"The DVO’s production of this operetta delighted the audience... The main reason, although not the only one, was the tour-de-force performance of the soprano who played La Perichole, Julie Ziavras. She had the required coquettishness of a soprano in a buffo production like this one, the figure, the beauty, the charm and the panache, but she had more than that. She had a commanding voice and an energetic presence on stage."
Tom Kane, The River Reporter

"Coloratura (high-wire acrobatic singing) never sounded better in the hills of Sullivan County as Julie Ziavras, in the title role, displayed florid passages, trills, glissandos and sustained tones on high..." Marcus Kalipolites, The Times Herald Record

"Though frequent classical, Greek and folk concertgoers in the area are aware of Julie Ziavras' wonderful singing, in Show Boat she surprised us all with her 'acting' the song "Bill". Ziavras did not slowly lead up to the magic moment of the song as most singers do, by getting more and more serious about "her man" until the "I don't know"climax, but sang the entire song tongue-in-cheek, with humor, until that magic moment. It was her surprise at her own discovery that she could not explain why she loved him, instead of, as others do, merely informing us she could not find the words to tell us why she loved him. A very clever approach to the song." -Barry Plaxen, Publisher: Delaware & Hudson CANVAS

"Julie is the muse of internationally acclaimed composers. She performs their songs with world-class lyrical beauty, artistry and interpretation" -John Hiller, Producer Broadway Concerts Direct

"…the waves of her voice are experienced and the spirit is airborne." -Greek National Herald

"She cultivates an intimate rapport with her audience, and this is the true test of a real interpreter—the way she ‘works’ this intimate communication with those across from her." -Greek National Herald

"She has an incredibly powerful and beautiful voice." -Bodles Opera House

"Julie is an accomplished singer and musician. When you hear her angelic voice you will want more! When I listen to her, I feel so relaxed and proud to know her! … together they are fabulous!" -Tina Ross

"…sensitive, sexy, magnificently creative, her rendition of one nostalgic folk song simply took my breath away." -Spyros Orfanos, GABSI Magazine

"She gives her whole body to her songs, responding to the intensity of the lyrics…capable of endowing rich and dramatic dimensions to musical images of love and life, of death and pain…at other times rousing feisty renditions." - Dr. Mary A. Nickles

Link to Julie's Greek reviews
Link to Julie's classical reviews