Flutist Julie Scolnik’s tonal enchantment and communicative gifts have captivated audiences across the United States and abroad. The Boston Globe has written that “she plays with an urgency full of fire that melts into disarming delicacy,” and a French critic from La Provence praised “her vast palette of sultry colors and magical phrasing.” Scolnik has enjoyed a diverse musical career as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral flutist. As a guest flutist at festivals across the U.S. and France, Ms. Scolnik has collaborated with countless world-class artists and chamber groups that include the Brentano, Lydian and Borromeo String Quartets. She is an active soloist in the U.S. and in France for many years she offered an annual fall recital at the Salle Cortot in Paris, and currently offers concerts each summer in Provence. She maintains a private flute studio in her home.
The 2023-2024 season marked Ms. Scolnik’s twenty-seventh year as artistic director of Mistral, a series and ensemble she founded with her husband, physicist Michael Brower, in 1997. The concerts have has brought her accolades not only for the high caliber of the artists, but also for the imaginative programming and the deeply personal connection she establishes with her audiences.
In earlier years, Ms. Scolnik performed as principal flute with many of Boston’s leading orchestras including Emmanuel Music, The Boston Ballet, and the Boston Lyric Opera. Ms. Scolnik is a frequent featured guest on Boston’s WCRB (formerly WGBH) radio, having made over three dozen radio appearances. She lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with her husband, and has a daughter and a son, Sophie and Sasha Scolnik-Brower, also musicians. Ms. Scolnik has released three solo CDs, one entitled ‘Salut d’Amour & Other Songs of Love,’ with her daughter, and the other, “Bejeweled: Short Concert Gems” with harp. She just finished recording the complete Bach Sonatas with her daughter which was released in fall of 2022 by Parma Records. They are available through the Mistral office and through all streaming platforms.
Since her treatment and recovery from breast cancer in 2005, Scolnik has found ways to play and organize benefit concerts which raise funds for support for underserved women with the disease. The most recent ones: two full orchestral concerts with the world-renowned Sir Simon Rattle in Jordan Hall, Boston in 2010 and in 2019, and in May of 2014 at the Hotel de Ville de Paris, for the League Contre le Cancer. She has been a guest speaker at the Harvard Medical School twice a year since 2009.
Scolnik’s memoir, Paris Blue, was published by Koehler Books, and is available online and at all indie Booksellers. It has garnered over 20 awards. All information here: www.JulieScolnik.com
