Julia Thornton is an English-German lirico-spinto soprano based in Freiburg-im-Breisgau Germany. She has a wide repertoire and has sung internationally as a concert singer. Recent and future engagements include Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder with orchestra at the Historisches Kaufhaus, Freiburg; Respighi’s Il tramonto in France with instrumentalists of the Martha Argerich Project; and a tour to South America with performances of Richard Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder and Isolde’s Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde.

In February 2014 she made her debut with the Orquestra Jovem do Estato de São Paulo and their chief conductor Cláudio Cruz as soprano soloist in Richard Strauss' Vier Letzte Lieder in Sala São Paulo, Brazil. They later performed this work at the Música em Trancoso Festival 2014, where Julia also sang a programme of Viennese operetta conducted by Antonio Méndez.

In 2012 she enjoyed great success as soprano soloist at the inaugural Musica em Trancoso international festival in the Brazilian state of Bahia, performing arias by Puccini, Verdi, Gershwin and Bernstein with the Orquestra Juvenil da Bahia under their chief conductor Ricardo Castro alongside artists such as Katia and Marielle Labeque and soloists from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Julia has performed recitals of songs by Brahms, de Falla, Duparc and Poulenc, as well as a programme of songs inspired by the forest (Schumann, Strauss, Wolf, Chausson and Caplet)

Julia made her German opera debut with Theater Freiburg in June 2008 as Helmwige in their acclaimed production of Wagner's Die Walküre. Her operatic roles have included Micaela in Carmen for Opera Classica Europe; the Governess in The Turn of the Screw for the Britten-Pears School conducted by Britten specialist Steuart Bedford; Nedda in Pagliacci; and Brünnhilde in a shortened version of Wagner's Der Ring der Nibelungen for young audiences, Der Rap des Nibelungen.

In 2006 she toured Brazil, singing the soprano solo in Verdi's Messa di Requiem and an Italian opera gala programme (featuring arias and duets from La Bohème, Tosca and Aida) in prestigious venues, including the Sala São Paulo concert hall and Teatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro. Other engagements have taken her to Ravenna for Mahler's 4th Symphony; Chateau Chinon, Burgundy, for a Mozart recital; Zürich for Mozart's Coronation Mass and Lörrach for Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah.In her home town of Freiburg, she appeared to great acclaim at the Konzerthaus as soprano soloist in Orff's Carmina Burana, Beethoven's 9th Symphony and the Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde.

Julia was born and educated in Chester, Northern England. She trained at the Royal Northern College of Music and, after completing her studies in Manchester, she took part in masterclasses at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies in Aldeburgh.