From Uniondale, New York, first-generation Filipino-American multi-instrumentalist Jay Julio serves as Assistant Principal Violist of the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra and has performed with the American Composers Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and the Dallas Symphony. Recent solo appearances include concertos with the Ocala Symphony, the Marquette Symphony, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Jay has recorded for Parma, Nonesuch, and Broadway Records, including on pianist-composer Timo Andres’ 2025 Grammy Award-nominated release The Blind Banister, and has been heard on radio/TV across the US, Australia, and Europe.

A prizewinner in competitions held by the Music Teachers National Association, the National Federation of Music Clubs, and the YoungArts Foundation, Jay is indebted to the Virtu Foundation and the American Viola Society for further support in the form of instrument and bow loans during their studies. They are an alumnus of the Music Academy of the West, the New York String Orchestra Seminar and the Yellow Barn Young Artists Program, with other festival appearances at Aspen (New Horizons Fellow), Pacific, Spoleto, and Cabrillo.

After starting formal musical training at 14, Jay received a BM from the Manhattan School of Music at 20 and a MM from the Juilliard School as a full-tuition Susan W. Rose Fellow, studying with Karen Ritscher, Heidi Castleman, Misha Amory, and Matthew Lipman. Other important mentors include Leilehua Lanzilotti, Todd Low, and Saskia Hamilton. Away from the instrument, Jay is an award-winning poet; their work can be found in the Cincinnati Review, the Mississippi Review, and elsewhere.

Japanese-American pianist and conductor Josh Tatsuo Cullen is acclaimed for his “astounding mixture of coolness and intensity” (Stuttgart Zeitung). His professional career began at age nine when he performed and recorded Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A major, K. 488 with the Moscow Philharmonic. Since then, he has appeared as soloist with the Detroit Symphony, Chicago Sinfonietta, Fort Worth Symphony, Ann Arbor Symphony, and Otsu Philharmonic orchestras.

As a collaborative pianist, Josh toured Taiwan with violinist Sheng-Ching Hsu in 2025. In 2022, Josh recorded Scenes in Tin Can Alley: Piano Music of Florence Price (Blue Griffin Records). He recorded the world premiere of Recuerdos Diaspóricos by James Lee III, as well as Beethoven’s piano concertos nos. 1, 2 and 3, and Mozart’s concerto for two pianos with his mentor, Paul Badura-Skoda and the Czech National Symphony. ​

Equally at home in musical theater, Josh served as associate conductor and/or music associate on touring productions of Hamilton, Frozen and Beauty and the Beast. He has been a vocal coach for summer music theater programs at New York University.

Josh was born in Hawaii and raised outside of Detroit. He holds a master’s degree in solo piano from The Juilliard School and a master’s degree in collaborative piano from New York University. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan at age 16. His principal piano teachers include Jerome Lowenthal, Arthur Greene, and Grant Wenaus.

Also an army veteran, Josh’s YouTube channel, @armypianist, features his own arrangements of video game music.