Julie Bearden Carver
Artistic Operations Manager and Music Director of the Southwest Florida Theatre Company
Julie Bearden Carver is a professional musical director, voice and acting coach, orchestrator and arranger. Julie made her Broadway debut playing Piano 1 for Mary Poppins at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City and has accompanied Actors Equity Association principal and ensemble auditions and classes at New York University and Barnard-Columbia. At the Juilliard School and Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall (Lincoln Center) and the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra (Florida) Julie has played with notable conductors, composers and vocalists that include Andrea Bocelli, Bernadette Peters, Eric Whitacre, and others.
As Founding Artistic Director of The Callback Company, Julie prepares vocalists for a variety of performances, competitions, and college auditions. This consulting service also hosts Broadway talent who provide masterclasses in musical theatre and acting to her students. Her roster of piano and voice students have been accepted to the most prestigious college voice, piano, and musical theatre programs across the country. Julie’s wide experience includes vocal coaching in Chicago, Naples, Florida and New York City with singung actors from the stages of the Metropolitan Opera, Broadway, national tours and regional productions.
As a collaborative pianist, Julie has performed concerts with Richard Tucker 2015 Award-winner and 2013 Cardiff Singer of the World, Jamie Barton, world-renown soprano Indra Thomas, and soprano Dr. Jeanie Darnell, the head of vocal studies at Florida Gulf Coast University. Julie regularly accompanies the Atlanta SETC/USITT Auditions and judges regional Literary events including solo and ensemble categories as well as dramatic interpretation. As a ballet accompanist, Julie has played for classes at University of Illinois and the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. In Rome, Georgia, she served as the choral master for the February 2017 presentation of Rosini’s La Cenerentola, co-produced by the Rome Symphony Orchestra and Peach State Opera and the future presentation of Bryan Wilbur Grundstrom’s Children of Zeus.
Musical direction credits include her own revue “It’s the Talk of the Town: The Music of Jerry Livingston” at the Laurie Beachman and Triad Theatres in New York City as well as multiple local and regional productions including Berry College Theatre Company’s production of Dogfight, The Fantasticks for the Rome Shakespeare Festival, Matilda and The Spongebob Musical for The Grand Theatre. Former college positions range from Adjunct Instructor of piano and voice to Assistant Professor and Musical Theatre Specialist. Most recently, she was staff accompanist and musical director for Berry College and vocal coach/accompanist for Kennesaw State University’s Department of Theatre and Performance Studies in Spring 2021.
Julie’s new orchestrations and music for Rome Shakespeare Festival’s production of Two Gentlemen of Verona were premiered in 2018. A Shakespeare Cabaret, starring Indra Thomas, Sherri Sutton, and Jill Hames with music compiled and arranged by Julie Carver, was premiered in May 2021.
Julie has recently relocated to Southwest Florida with her husband Bryan, three children, and a furchild named Mochi where Julie serves in the music ministry of Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church in Naples. Music direction credits in Southwest Florida include: Young Frankenstein, Next to Normal, and Forever Plaid and the upcoming “Let Them Hear You” Cabaret at FGCU featuring students in the vocal program. Julie performs regularly with violinist Barry Ross. Come and see their performance at the MACC on March 26th!