Today we’d like to introduce you to Julie Coucheron.
Hi Julie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born and raised just outside Oslo, Norway in a small town called Nesoddtangen. My brother David is two years older than me, and he was a pretty accomplished violinist already at age five. I wanted to be just like him, so I started playing the violin too. However, it was not as fun as I had thought, especially because he was so much better than me (!), so I switched instruments and started on the piano instead. I loved it, and a few years later, David and I started performing together. I think our first concert together was at ages 6 and 8. I have had some pretty amazing teachers and mentors throughout my youth, and I studied in Norway until I was 13 years old. I then moved to Philadelphia for two years before I started studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London at the age of 15. I was able to still perform while I studied and when I was 24, I had finished my bachelor’s and Master’s degrees and moved to New York City. I lived there for three years and when I was 25, I got an offer to start teaching as a professor at Kennesaw State University in Atlanta. My brother had just gotten the job as concertmaster for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and we performed a lot together, so living in the same city made sense for us both. I have lived in Atlanta ever since, and I love my apartment in Midtown. I perform with Georgian Chamber Players, Atlanta Chamber Players, Emory Chamber Music Society and Concerts at First and I still travel a lot for concerts around the world. I am the founder and Artistic Director for the Kon-Tiki Chamber Music Festival in Oslo, Norway and I perform with wonderful musicians, as well as symphony orchestras. Last year I had the pleasure of playing with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and conductor Peter Oundjian. I love the wonderful variation that I get in teaching, performing solo concerts, chamber music and arranging concerts and festivals.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I don’t think anyone gets into music and expects a smooth ride! It is definitely a difficult profession, but if you work hard and stay true to yourself and your audience, it is all worth it in the end! I am so lucky to call my passion also my profession.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am proud of all the hard work I put into my profession and being able to perform and create an experience for my audience. I am also proud of the concerts I put on with Jens Korndoerfer at First Presbyterian Church during the pandemic, being able to put on 4 online concerts during the 2020-2022 period. The concerts were some of the first online concerts during covid, and thousands of people tuned in from all over the world.
How do you think about happiness?
When audience members come up to me after a concert and tell me that I have given them an emotional experience makes me very happy! It means that all the hard work I put into the performance was well worth it!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.davidandjuliecoucheron.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julienorway/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julie.coucheron
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/KonTikiChamberFest
Image Credits
Julie Artacho. Andrew Bogard.
