Julia Scott Carey began her music training at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, where she received the Lanier Prize for Most Outstanding Graduating Senior. She was one of the first students admitted to the Harvard-New England Conservatory joint degree program, through which she received a master’s degree in composition. She received a second master’s degree in collaborative piano from Boston University. 

As a composer, her orchestral works have been performed by numerous orchestras, including the Boston Symphony and the Boston Pops, and her works have been broadcast on national TV and radio in the United States and in Russia. She was the youngest composer ever published by the Theodore Presser Company. She was also chosen to arrange a folk song for Yo-Yo Ma and Lynn Chang to play at Deval Patrick's inaugural ball. 

She has served as a music director or accompanist for over forty opera and musical theater productions. Productions for which Julia was the music director include Cy Coleman's City of Angels with the Longwood Players and Alexander Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg with OperaHub. Reviewing a performance Julia conducted of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with the Hubbard Hall Opera Company, the Berkshire Hudson Arts Review said “the players and singers were not just led, but were energized. Schicchi is a tough score, and Julia stood the test.”

As a pianist, Julia is one of the accompanists for the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the Boston Symphony Children’s Choir. She also serves as the accompanist for the Metropolitan Chorale of Brookline, the Dedham Choral Society, the Boston College University Chorale, and the Boston Saengerfest Men’s Chorus.  She previously served as the pianist for the Handel and Haydn Society’s Educational Vocal Quartet, the Wellesley College Chamber Singers, and the Boston Children’s Chorus. She is a founder and core ensemble member of Juventas New Music Ensemble, and she has performed in White Snake Projects’ world premiere opera productions for the past three years.

Also passionate about early music, Julia music directed a staged performance of four of Louis-Nicolas Clérambault’s Cantatas with the Harvard Early Music Society, which was taken on tour to Versailles. She also music directed a performance of John Eccles’ Semele with the same organization. Speaking of her performance as a harpsichordist in the Boston Opera Collaborative’s production of Le nozze di Figaro, the Boston Musical Intelligencer said, “The unwavering harpsichord accompaniment of Julia Carey richly and expressively textured the recitatives.”

Julia currently works as a musicianship teacher and department coordinator at the Suzuki School in Newton. She also taught an undergraduate music theory class at Boston College, served as a keyboard harmony teaching fellow at NEC, and worked as a musical theatre teacher at the Belvoir Terrace Arts Camp and the Boston Children's Theatre.

Julia has been involved in religious music for most of her life. She was a member of the Memorial Church’s Harvard University Choir and Choral Fellows during her time as a student at the university. She then sang in the choir at Trinity Church in Boston and worked as the children’s choir accompanist at the Second Church in Newton, before beginning her time as the accompanist, then Minister of Music, at CSCC. Her favorite scripture is Psalm 98, because so many composers have found inspiration in its references to all the different instruments and parts of nature making music to honor God. 

Julia lives in Winchester with her husband and her daughter. In addition to music, she loves cooking, running, and spending time on Cape Cod.