Get to know The Sixteen's soprano and nutritional therapist, Julie

What is the best thing about singing with The Sixteen?
For me, it’s the music and the sense of camaraderie. The Sixteen is my second family.

What is your favourite Sixteen anecdote or memory?
Too many to mention. Most concerts involve some level of hysteria. Laughing, silliness and fun feature highly, most often led by the conductor. I always enjoy people forgetting to swap their music around for the second half, or someone’s trousers splitting, or a cat walking across the stage, or people forgetting vital parts of their concert clothes, or very loud wrong consonants (Harry), or processing off into a cupboard.

Is there a piece you have fallen in love with since performing it with The Sixteen?
Gosh, where do I start? Lobo’s Versa Est In Luctum, Byrd’s Tribue and Infelix Ego, Carver’s O Bone Jesu, Poulenc’s Un Soir de Neige. And so many more. But for me, the standout piece is Le grand Inconnu by James MacMillan. I found it profoundly moving and left with earworms for years.

What has been the most challenging piece of music you have ever performed?
La Figure Humaine was tricky as I hadn’t sung it before, but it was mostly the language that I found hard. I once sung as a soloist in a commissioned Mass by Francis Grier with St Paul’s Cathedral – five minutes before the service, the composer was still trying to help me get the notes right. It was utterly impossible!

Does anyone in The Sixteen have any unusual habits? If so, what are they?
Well, I think we all have our foibles. Basses Eamonn Dougan and Robbie MacDonald take ages to pack up their clothes, alto Kim Porter is always ready for the concert first and I am always the last, alto Dan Collins always forgets to book his travel, and tenor Jeremy Budd eats all the biscuits!

What do you do to relax in your spare time?
There’s not much of that sadly, but I love traveling with my family. We’re always saving for our next adventure. Vietnam this summer.

Was there anyone who inspired you to become a singer? And is there anyone who continues to inspire you today?
My Director of Music at school, Helen Porter, hugely inspired me to follow my voice. She used to teach me piano, but more often than not, we sung and played our way through all of Strauss’ songs instead of practising scales. She had a wonderfully catchy enthusiasm for choral music and the voice, and gave me so many opportunities as a singer. Today, to be very honest, my Sixteen female colleagues inspire me and continue to make me want to be better. As you get older, you realise how much more to singing there is aside from voice production. Our emotions, our experience, our joys and sadness.

What do you think you would be doing if you weren’t a singer?
I already teach singing and work as a Nutritional Therapist when I’m not performing. But, if I had to come up with something else, then maybe a travel writer or travel agent? As long as I got to do some good research in the Far East.

What would your ultimate desert island disc be?
This is obviously impossible. But…….Joint equal would be James MacMillan’s Miserere (so I could take all of my friends with me to the island) and Moments of Pleasure by Kate Bush, so I could twirl around in a floaty red dress.

What would you eat for your last supper?
Thai curry and a bottomless negroni.