About the Musicians
Julia Cash, violin
Violinist Julia Cash has recently returned to Louisville after some 25 years pursuing an exciting musical career in New England and Europe. Brought back to Louisville by her family and her husband’s career, she was named Interim Principal 2nd violin of the Louisville Orchestra by Teddy Abrams. Also in the 21-22 season Ms Cash performed Mozart 5th Violin Concerto in Boston with Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra this last summer, that was hailed for “heroic presence, sparkling accuracy and delicacy of her silvery tone ” (Musical Intelligencer)
Ms. Cash left Louisville for Boston to work with legendary violinist James Buswell at age 15 to pursue an already promising musical future. Winner of the National Music Club Prize as a Tanglewood fellow, and a two-time Outstanding Performer award winner at the Academia Chigiana in Siena, Italy, Ms. Cash has performed all over the United States and Europe as a chamber musician and recitalist. In Boston, she performs with the Boston Ballet, Boston Pops, and has served as concertmaster for many prominent Boston musical groups such as Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Boston. A huge new music advocate, Ms. Cash served as concertmaster of Alea III under Gunther Schuller to high accolades. Early in her career, she served as principal second of Opera Boston and won a Pulitzer and has been on many Grammy nominated albums through her extensive recording career. Ms. Cash holds degrees from New England Conservatory of Music, the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik in Germany and the Royal Conservatory of the Netherlands. In addition to James Buswell, other notable musical mentors include Pamela Frank, Vera Beths and Federico Agostini.
Ms. Cash is also an avid teacher and music educator. Along with her private studio, she has taught chamber music, orchestral coaching and lessons at Harvard, Boston College and Boston Latin School. She is currently on faculty at New England Conservatory and maintains a competitive studio of award winning students. Currently she spends summers teaching for Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras and serves as Music Director at Point Counter Point Chamber Music Camp in Vermont. She currently lives in Crescent Hill with her 3 daughters and violist/physician husband Tom, and is splitting her performing obligations between Louisville and Boston.
Sebastian Chang, piano
Sebastian obtained a B.M. in Composition from the Curtis Institute & a M.M. in Composition from USC.
From ’16-’18, he was Resident Composer of the Louisville Orchestra and currently fulfills their first-call Auxiliary Pianist role.
The Louisville Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony, the Tokyo Symphony, the Louisville Ballet, the Cleveland Chamber Festival, the Louisville Chamber Choir, and the Britt Festival Orchestra are among the ensembles that have performed his works.
He played keyboard in the Louisville Orchestra in the album “The American Project” featuring Yuja Wang as piano soloist and compositions by Teddy Abrams and Michael Tilson Thomas, which won a ’24 Grammy in the “Best Instrumental Classical Solo” category.
"Between Heaven and Earth", in collaboration with artist Vian Sora, premiered on February 23 & 24, ’18 by the Louisville Orchestra & Louisville Chamber Choir, in Whitney Hall at the Kentucky Center. His Piano Concerto premiered on June 17, '22, in the Britt Festival Pavilion by the Britt Festival Orchestra, in Jacksonville, OR, featuring the composer as pianist. His Piano Trio No. 2 premiered on November 20, ‘22, by Trio Barclay, at the Barclay Theatre, in Irvine, CA, and was also featured in the Derby City Chamber Music Festival on April 28, ’24 at Second Presbyterian Church. His film score for the silent horror film “Nosferatu” premiered October 27 & 28, ’23 by the Louisville Orchestra at Whitney Hall in the Kentucky Center. It was performed again on October 23, ’24 as part of the L.O.’s film series. He conducted the premiere of his Double Concerto for Flute & Cello on Sunday, November 3, ’24, with the Cabrillo Chamber Orchestra, at Incarnation Lutheran Church in Poway, CA.
He played piano solo in Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2 with the Louisville Orchestra on March 31 & April 1, ’23 at Whitney Hall in the Kentucky Center. He performed Variations on a Theme of Paganini by Rachmaninoff with the Louisville Civic Orchestra on February 19 & 22, at Bellarmine University and Springdale Presbyterian Church respectively.
As a student, he won the BMI Student Composer Awards in ’02, ’05, & ’07, and the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Awards in ’01, ’02, ’04, ’05, & ’06. He is an ‘02 Davidson Fellow Laureate, by the Davidson Institute for Talent Development.
Julia Noone, violin
Originally from Worcester, MA, violinist Julia Noone is the Associate Concertmaster of the Louisville Orchestra. She has appeared as soloist with the LO on multiple occasions, including performances of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, Korngold’s Violin Concerto, various Baroque concerti, and more. In 2019, Julia performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon with LO music director Teddy Abrams, Jim James, and several LO colleagues to promote the orchestra’s album The Order of Nature.
Julia has performed as a guest Concertmaster with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Jacksonville Symphony, the Lakes Area Music Festival, and Orchestra Kentucky, and as a guest Principal Second with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. She has additionally performed with the Boston, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras as an auxiliary musician. Julia spends her summers performing with the Sun Valley Music Festival in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Prior to Louisville, Julia was a fellow at the New World Symphony in Miami, where she regularly performed as Concertmaster and was the featured soloist in Szymanowski’s Second Violin Concerto after winning the NWS Concerto Competition. Also while at New World, Julia traveled to Medellín, Colombia to perform Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto as part of the NWS’s exchange with Iberacademy.
Julia spent multiple summers performing with the Moritzburg Academy, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and the Tanglewood Music Center, where she was awarded the Jules C. Reiner Violin Prize and served as Concertmaster regularly, including a performance of Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra. Other summer festival engagements include a performance as Concertmaster for Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Spoleto Festival USA and two seasons as Assistant Concertmaster of Charlottesville Opera.
Julia received her bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory, where she was a student of Masuko Ushioda.
Jonathan Ruckman, cello
Jonathan Ruckman, cellist, is an honors graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he attended the Young Artist Program before receiving his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees. Following graduation, Mr. Ruckman was appointed Interim Assistant Principal cellist of the Grammy-winning Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), where he served as second chair cellist from 2004-2007. During his time with the LPO, Mr. Ruckman served as Principal and Assistant Principal cellist for numerous performances throughout the New Orleans area, received lifetime tenure, and was elected to the Board of Trustees. From 2007 to the present, Mr. Ruckman has been a freelance cellist for countless performances throughout the New Orleans, Washington, D.C., and Louisville areas, including appearances with the Louisville Orchestra, the Musaica Chamber Ensemble, and the NouLou Chamber players.
Off stage, Mr. Ruckman received a Juris Doctorate from the George Washington University Law School and a Master of Science in Social Work from the Kent School of Social Work where he was awarded the Graduate Dean’s Citation. Mr. Ruckman is the Clinical Director of Maryhurst Renewal, an outpatient mental health program primarily serving youth in the West and South ends of Louisville. From 2013-2018, Mr. Ruckman was an immigration attorney for Catholic Charities of Louisville, where he represented hundreds of refugees and asylees. Mr. Ruckman is a member of the Maryland and Kentucky Bar Associations as well as the Louisville Federation of Musicians. Mr. Ruckman lives in Indian Hills with his wife and three young children.