JULIE ALBERS is Principal Cello of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Making her major orchestral debut at age seventeen with The Cleveland Orchestra, she has performed in recital and with orchestras throughout North America, Europe, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand. Ms. Albers moved to Cleveland in high school to pursue studies through the Young Artist Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music. After winning the Grand Prize at the XIII International Competition for Young Musicians in Douai, France, she toured France as soloist with Orchestre Symphonique de Douai. She was named the first Gold Medal Laureate of South Korea’s 2003 Gyeongnam International Music Competition. Ms. Albers participated in a three- year residency with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two from 2006-2009. Her album with pianist Orion Weiss on Artek includes works by Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, Schumann, Massenet, and Piatagorsky. She is assistant professor at the McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University, where she holds the Mary Jean and Charles Yates Cello chair.