Mezzo-soprano, Julia Thorn, is a multifaceted musician with choral conducting, voice, and music education as areas of specialization. She is Director of Choral Activities/Vocal Area Coordinator at Delta State University and Organist at First Presbyterian Church in Greenville, MS. She is currently on the Executive Board of the Mississippi Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, a member of the National Association for Music Education, the National Collegiate Choral Organization, and Pi Kappa Lambda. Dr. Thorn performs frequently as a guest conductor and is an active clinician and adjudicator. Choral ensembles under her direction have given critically acclaimed performances at national, divisional and state conferences of ACDA, NAfME, NCCO, the Spivey Hall Educational Concert Series, and are featured on recordings from Santa Barbara Music Publishers.
Before coming to Delta State, Dr. Thorn held the Cyril M. Stretansky Distinguished Professorship Chair in Choral Music at Susquehanna University. She made her Carnegie Hall conducting debut on February 18, 2007 and was selected as a conducting fellow for the Oregon Bach Festival with Maestro Helmuth Rilling in 2004. Dr. Thorn was honored as the Outstanding Teacher of the 2008-2009 academic year at Centenary College where she taught for fifteen years as Professor of Music.
Dr. Thorn holds B.M. and M.M. Degrees in Vocal Performance from Loyola University in New Orleans, and the D.M.A. Degree in Conducting from the University of Alabama. While pursuing the doctorate under the direction of Sandra Willetts, she taught in the choral and music education departments at the University of Alabama and served as Director of Choral Activities at the University of West Alabama. During ten years of study at the Saratoga-Potsdam Choral Institute in New York, and as a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Chamber Chorus, she trained under the batons of many of the world’s finest conductors, including Robert Shaw, Brock McElheran and Eugene Ormandy.
