TITLE TALK

Team Spotlight: Julia Simons – Recording Clerk, MUSIC LOVER

« TITLE TALK / Team Spotlight: Julia Simons – Recording Clerk, MUSIC LOVER

Julia Simons is not new to the spotlight; she actually enjoys singing under it.

Julia backstage for Carmen.

She started singing almost as soon as she could talk and got very involved in choir during her high school years. Originally from the Gilbert area, Julia attended college at Mount Mercy University in Iowa where she was surrounded by a very artistic community with an abundance of community theatres and a local opera company. It was here that she first took an interest in opera.

She performed in “Carmen” by Georges Bizet and Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.”She recalls the shows fondly saying, “They were an absolute blast. I got to be a zombie come back to take the main character to Hell in Giovanni; our stage split in two and we emerged singing very ominously and everything. It was super neat.” Luckily, she was able to share pictures of that costume!

In costume for Don Giovanni

Julia’s favorite part of the opera experience was singing in different languages. She recounts, “Each show or aria is like a crash course in a new language because not only do you need to know how to pronounce what you’re singing, you need to know what it means so that you can accurately convey the emotions of the song. I had so much fun with that aspect, as languages are incredibly interesting to me.” In fact, she started her college career as a music major, but partly due to her operatic language experience, graduated with a B.A. in English with a certification in Linguistics from Northern Arizona University.

Opera was not her only new singing outlet, as a freshman she also auditioned for one of the first community theatre productions of “Les Misérables.” To her delight, she was cast as one of the lead characters, Cosette. This is her proudest musical achievement, as there were over 300 people who auditioned for the 30-role cast.

Cast singing “One day More,” Les Misérables.

She joined Pioneer Title Agency’s cast of title professionals in the Elden office in July 2018. Though there is not much singing required (okay, there is nosinging required) in title recording, she likes working with her helpful team.

The zombies emerging in Don Giovanni

It has been a few years since she performed, but maybe she will grace the stages of Flagstaff in the future… Her PTA family would certainly be cheering her on in the audience.