Julio Elizalde, a former student of veteran festival musician Paul Hersh, first appeared at the Olympic Music Festival in 2008, and has returned every subsequent season. Over the years, his participation has grown exponentially as a festival artist and as a regular assistant to festival founder Alan Iglitzin. In 2010, Elizalde was named an associate artistic director, having been responsible for inviting new rising talents to perform at the summer concerts in the barn. The following year, his title was changed to co-artistic director as his level of involvement increased. In the fall of 2014, Iglitzin named Elizalde as his successor, becoming the second artistic director in the history of the festival. At the time of his succession, Elizalde was the youngest artistic director of a major arts organization in the United States.

Praised as a musician of “compelling artistry and power” by the Seattle Times, gifted American pianist Julio Elizalde is a multifaceted artist who enjoys a versatile career as soloist, chamber musician, artistic administrator, educator, and curator. He has performed in many of the major music centers throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America to popular and critical acclaim. Since 2014, he has served as the artistic director of the Olympic Music Festival near Seattle, Washington.

Elizalde has appeared with many of the leading artists of our time. He tours internationally with world-renowned violinists Sarah Chang and Ray Chen and has performed alongside conductors Itzhak Perlman, Teddy Abrams, and Anne Manson. He has collaborated with artists such as violinist Pamela Frank, composers Osvaldo Golijov and Stephen Hough, baritone William Sharp, and members of the Juilliard, Cleveland, Takács, Kronos, and Brentano string quartets.

Elizalde is a founding member of the New Trio with violinist Andrew Wan, co-concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony, and Patrick Jee, cellist of the New York Philharmonic. The New Trio won both the Fischoff and Coleman National Chamber Music Competitions and received the Harvard Musical Association’s prestigious Arthur W. Foote Prize. As part of the New Trio, Julio has performed for leading American politicians including President Bill Clinton, Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Henry Kissinger, and the late Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy. He was a featured performer for the soundtrack of the 2013 film Jimmy P, composed by Academy Award winner Howard Shore.

A passionate educator, Elizalde served in 2013 as a visiting professor of piano at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, and has given piano and chamber music masterclasses throughout the United States at major conservatories and universities. He has also appeared at various summer music festivals including Yellow Barn, Taos, Caramoor, Bowdoin, Kneisel Hall, and Music Academy of the West. In 2012, he was the youngest juror ever selected for.0 the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition held at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.

Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Julio received a bachelor of music degree with honors from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Paul Hersh. He holds master’s and doctor of musical arts degrees from the Juilliard School in New York City, where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal, Joseph Kalichstein, and Robert McDonald.