Soprano Julia Watkins-Davis delights in bringing evocative stories and challenging musical works to new audiences. She most recently interpreted the virtuosic works of Sergei Rachmaninov as part of the Elements Concert Series for two sold-out performances, and sang the title role in Thomas Whitman’s Sukey in the Dark in its regional debut. In addition to advocating new works, Julia revels in the classic canon, adding Donna Anna in Don Giovanni to her repertoire in a role debut with Texas Concert Opera Collective in 2018. In the 2019-2020 season, Julia returns for her third consecutive season with Austin indie opera outfit One Ounce Opera to sing Cindy in the darkly comic Misfortune, by Eva Conley Kendrick.

Julia Watkins-Davis won the Grand Prize at the national finals of the Bel Canto Vocal Scholarship Foundation, praised by tenor Dr. George Shirley for her “fantastic coloratura”.  She has also been honored as a district winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in Southern California, recognized by the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), the Young Musicians Foundation, the Palm Springs Opera Guild, the Loren L. Zachary Society and the Opera Buffs of Southern California.

Louisiana-born of parents from the United States and Brazil, Julia has cultivated a lifelong love of language and interesting repertoire which has taken her to Europe for performances with the Altenburger Musik Festival in Germany, the Accademia Italiana di Canto in Tuscany, the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, and to Brazil for impromptu performances around the country. She recorded and co-composed the title theme to the film The Vivero Letter in Portuguese, and has also been heard on soundtracks for HBO’s Carnivale, Virtual Obsession for ABC, and numerous regional commercials. Her boundless curiosity in the creative process led her to explore recording engineering and music supervision/editorial, emerging from UCLA’s Extension with a Certificate in Recording Engineering in 2006. Julia now lives in Austin, Texas with her composer husband, Richard F.W. Davis, and their composer daughter, Jane.