Flute, piccolo

Julie Duncan Thornton plays flute and piccolo with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. During her tenure with the Colorado Symphony, Thornton has become one of the most sought after orchestral piccolo players in the country. She has performed extensively with the New York Philharmonic, the Saint Louis Symphony, the Oregon Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra and the Houston Symphony. Thornton has recently been a featured flute performer and teacher for Festicamara in Medellin, Columbia and Festival International de Inverno de Campos do Jordao in Brazil.

A native of Mercer Island, Washington, Thornton holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Northwestern University. In addition, she has completed her course work towards a doctor of musical arts degree at Rice University. She has performed with the Grand Tetons Festival Orchestra, Strings in the Mountains, the Aspen Music Festival, the Solti Orchestral Project at Carnegie Hall, the National Repertory Orchestra, the National Orchestral Institute and the Music Academy of the West. Her primary teachers include Walfrid Kujala, Bonita Boyd, Leone Buyse and Carol Wincenc.

Thornton has been a winner and finalist of several competitions, including the Seventeen Magazine and General Motors National Concerto Competition, The Flute Talk Competition, Northwestern University Concerto Competition, the Farwell Award for Excellence in Performance by the Chicago Musicians Club of Women and the National Flute Association High School Solo Competition. She has also appeared as soloist with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Greece (NY) Symphony, the Colorado Young Sinfonia and at the National Flute Association's Boston and Chicago conventions. Thornton has held the position of lecturer in flute at Colorado State University and is currently instructor of flute at the Lamont School of Music.

Thornton is married to Michael Thornton, principal horn of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. They are the proud parents of their two young daughters. They enjoy performing chamber works for flute and horn and perform together each summer at the Washington Island Music Festival in Door County, Wisconsin. Thornton can be heard on the London, Teldec, Naxos, and Koch International labels.