Conductor

The conductor of Newcastle Strings is Julia Harding. Julia is a clarinet and saxophone specialist. She is currently a member of the instrumental teaching staff for Staffordshire Performing Arts, has a private teaching practice at her home in Macclesfield and teaches at Keele University. She studied for a BA in Music at Dartington College of Arts and for an MA at the University of Reading. She has recently completed her MA in Psychology for Musicians at the University of Sheffield.

Julia has been an active member of the King Edward Music Society of Macclesfield (KEMS) for some time, in the choir, and in the orchestra playing the viola and various clarinets and saxophones.

In addition to being the conductor and director of Newcastle Strings, Julia is the Assistant Musical Director of the relatively new KEMS Concert Band (KCB). She has appeared with the Beckford String Quartet, the KEMS Concert Band and Newcastle Strings as a soloist.