Biography

Julie Stafford is an active oboist and teacher in the Tucson and Phoenix areas. Her primary position is 2nd oboe and English horn with the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra. She also joins the stage with the Tucson Pops Orchestra as a section player and the Green Valley Concert Band as a featured soloist. Julie can also be found playing with various musical theatre companies and productions as a pit musician where she doubles on clarinet, saxophone, and flute.

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In addition to maintaining a high-level oboe studio, Julie teaches 5th-8th grade band at St. Michael's School in Tucson, AZ. She is the founder of the Tucson Area Independent Middle School Honor Band, in which she also manages and directs. Julie has also taught middle school orchestra and middle school classical guitar ensembles.

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Through music Julie has traveled to China, Brazil, and Mexico for concert tours. Her most notable accomplishment was playing English horn on Dvorak's New World Symphony in Gramado, Brazil for the Gramado Music Festival.

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Julie is currently working on her Doctor of Musical Arts with a Teaching Artist Certificate from Arizona State University where she studies with renown pedagogue and oboist, Martin Schuring. She also completed her Master of Music in Performance Pedagogy under Schuring's tutelage and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Instrumental Studies from the University of Arizona. 

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Julie plays on a Howarth XL Cocobolo oboe and a Fox Tristan 580 maple English horn.