Tune town: A spotlight on San Diego musician Julia Vari

Juila Vari is an international jazz Singer and pianist. (K.C. Alfred/Union-Tribune

March 31, 2017 3:56 PM PT

San Diego can rock and roll with the best of them - and not just because of the earthquakes. From Jewel, Switchfoot and P.O.D. to Tom Waits, Rocket From The Crypt and Andra Day, this fair city has produced more than its fair share of top talent over the years.

Here’s a look at Julia Vari, a local musician that’s worth tuning into now.

About the musician

Established: 2011

Genre: Pop, electro, jazz, flamenco

Label: Formerly Prodisc Records in Mexico; now in negotiations with several labels.

Biggest hit: “Habanera” (youtube.com)

Worst day job: “When I was doing musical theater in New York City, I worked at a pastry shop. They did not have ‘artist-friendly’ hours - and I had 6 a.m. shifts. Obviously, that didn’t last long; I was fired after arriving late and half asleep.”

If it weren’t for music, I’d be: “Dead.”

Next local gig: May 4, The Loft at UCSD (Price Center E, 9500 Gilman Dr., Ste. 0077, La Jolla).

Of note: Julia Vari studied voice, piano, theory and composition at the Eastman School of Music and musical theater at New York University.
“Probably one of the more unusual aspects of my music is that I sing in eight different languages. I have always loved languages, and it is easier for me to learn, because they say that both bilingual people and musicians are better language learners. Besides the variety of languages, I consider myself a very versatile singer and musician, and people often have a hard time defining my genre, which I think makes my style a lot more interesting.”

How to follow her

Online: juliavari.com
Youtube: JuliaCantante
Facebook: @JuliaVariOficial (12K followers)
Twitter: @JuliaVari (2K followers)
Instagram: @JuliaVariMusic (1K followers)

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Magazine

George Varga

San Diego Union-Tribune music critic George Varga began drumming in rock bands at 12 and writing professionally about music at 15. A Louisiana native who grew up mostly in Germany, Varga has earned three Pulitzer Prize nominations for his writing at the U-T and is a voting member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition to providing live coverage of the Grammy Awards and festivals from Coachella and KAABOO to the 1994 edition of Woodstock, he has interviewed everyone from Miles Davis, Britney Spears and (over a game of chess) Ray Charles to Willie Nelson, Kanye West and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Anthony Davis. A triple first prize-winner for criticism and arts writing at the 2022 San Diego Press Club awards and a double first prize-winner at the 2022 San Diego Society of Professional Journalists awards, Varga is also a contributing writer for Jazz Times magazine and has written for Billboard, Spin and other publications. After attending San Diego City College and San Diego State University, he created and taught the 2002 UC San Diego Extension course, “Jazz in a Post-Ken-Burns World.” Varga has written liner notes for more than a dozen albums, including by jazz sax greats James Moody and Michael Brecker, and contributed two chapters to the book, “Dylan: Disc By Disc.”