Julia Grenfell

Originally from New Zealand, Julia has served as Principal Piccolo of the ASO since 2001. She holds a Master of Music from Northwestern University in Chicago, where she studied with Walfrid Kujala, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Flute Performance at Rice University in Houston, studying with Professor Leone Buyse.

Julia previously held flute positions with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and the San Antonio Symphony (Texas). She has participated in a number of Summer festivals including Verbier in Switzerland, Tanglewood in Massachusetts, and Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, and she undertook a European Tour in 2000 with the UBS Verbier Festival Youth Orchestra.

In 2019 Julia completed a year-long job exchange as Principal Piccolo with the Gothenburg Opera Orchestra in Sweden. During this time, she toured Japan with the GOO, as well as performed with Sweden’s national orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. She has also appeared as a guest player with the Sydney, Queensland, and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras.

As a soloist, Julia has appeared with the ASO on a several occasions, including for the Piccolo Concerto by Paul Stanhope in 2013. In 2025 she performed with the Adelaide Wind Orchestra in the world premiere of Concerto for Piccolo and Wind Orchestra by her sister, composer Maria Grenfell. A frequent guest artist at the biennial Australian Flute Festival, Julia is also active as a teacher including at the Elder Conservatorium. In 2022, she performed her piccolo trio Piccolo Ridicolo (published by Theodore Presser) at the 50th Annual National Flute Association convention in Chicago.