Julia Burbach was born to German parents in Tokyo and raised in different countries.

She started choreographing and directing at dance and drama societies while at University College London, from where she holds a BA in History and History of Art and an MSc in International Public Policy. She had her first operatic experiences at the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich as an observer with Christof Loy, with whom she worked around the world and who became an important mentor.

Recent engagements include: Der fliegende Holländer (Opera Holland Park)

Notable engagements elsewhere: Partenope (Oper Frankfurt), Alcina (Oper Wuppertal), Eugene Onegin, L’amico Fritz (Opera Holland Park) L’elisir d’amore (Státni Opera Prague), Eugene Onegin (Theater Lübeck),  Der singende Teufel (Theater Bonn), Manon Lescaut (Theater Kiel), Götterdämmerung, Siegfried (Hackney Empire), La bohème (Theater Bielefeld) Edmea (Wexford Opera Festival), Die Walküre (Hackney Empire), Wundertheater (Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe), Semele (Shanghai International Festival), Die Walküre (Opéra National de Bordeaux), Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, (both OFFIE nominated 2020, Grimeborn Festival), Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno, Alte Münze Berlin, The Fairy Queen, Bury Court/Wilde Renate Berlin, Tosca, Madama Butterfly (Grimeborn/Bury Court), and The Rape of Lucretia (Grimeborn) which was awarded an OFFIE 2020 for best opera. In 2019 she was nominated as Best newcomer in the 2019 International Opera Awards.  

Forthcoming: Rinaldo, Don Quichotte, Romeo et Juliette and Cendrillon, at venues to be announced.

Cinderella is her ENO debut.