Julia Hwang launches debut CD ‘Subito’ on the St John’s label

Julia Hwang launches her new CD Subito this week, the first CD by a soloist to be released on the St John’s label.

Subito is the début album by Music undergraduate and internationally-renowned violinist Julia Hwang. Julia, who is in her final year at St John’s, is accompanied on the album by pianist Charles Matthews.

The album was released on the St John’s label with Signum Records at the beginning of June - the month of Julia’s graduation. It is Julia’s first solo album, and the official launch event takes place on Friday 16th June at a lunchtime concert in the Old Divinity School. The recital will include works from the CD, which include Vaughn Williams’s The Lark Ascending, Grieg’s Violin Sonata No. 3 in C Minor, and Subito by Witold Lutosławski. Julia plays a 1698 Peter Guarnerius of Mantua which she has on permanent loan.  

Julia has been performing on the international concert scene since the age of nine, when she gave her professional solo début with the English National Baroque Orchestra, and she has made many appearances on television and radio and played with professional ensembles. She has won several prizes such as the Two Moors Competition, the Gregynog Young Musician of the Year, and the Cambridge University Musical Society Concerto Competition, and she has featured in a BBC4 documentary about Ralph Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending. She was appointed as a cultural ambassador for BRACE in 2015, a charity that funds research into Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, and dedicates a lot of her time to charity concerts.

Subito presents a personal recital,” Julia tells us. “The individual pieces all reflect – in some part – my journey with the violin through adolescence, and it has been a real pleasure working with such an inspiring and supportive team.”

The official launch of Subito will take place in the Main Lecture Theatre, the Old Divinity School, on Friday 16th June at 12.45pm. Everyone is welcome to attend and admission is free. The CD can be purchased from these online retailers as well as Heffers Bookshop in Cambridge.