Julia Kurzydlak is a Polish conductor, currently working as Assistant Conductor to Paavo Järvi at the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich for the 2025/2026 and 2026/2027 seasons.

In the 2026/2027 season, she is also appointed as Conductor in Residence at Opera Łódź and Assistant Conductor at the Warsaw Philharmonic. 

In 2024, as a participant in the Conductors’ Academy of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich led by Paavo Järvi, she received both the Paavo Järvi Scholarship Award and the Audience Award. During the 2024/2025 season, she was also a recipient of a scholarship from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

She has participated in international conducting competitions, including the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Mahler Conducting Competition with the Bamberger Symphoniker.

She studied Orchestral and Opera Conducting at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw under Professors Tomasz Bugaj and Rafał Janiak, graduating with a Master’s degree in 2025. She completed her diploma concert with the Warsaw Philharmonic, conducting Kurt Weill’s Second Symphony for the first time in the history of the institution.

She has worked with ensembles and orchestras including the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Warsaw Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker, Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Warsaw, NOSPR, Sinfonietta Cracovia, Ensemble Ars Nova, Opera at the Castle in Szczecin, Lublin Philharmonic, Witold Lutosławski Chamber Philharmonic in Łomża, Hashtag Ensemble, and Chopin University Modern Ensemble.

She has taken part in numerous masterclasses, including those led by Marin Alsop with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, the Masterclass for Young Conductors organised by the Peter Eötvös Foundation in Budapest, and the Järvi Academy during the Pärnu Music Festival in Estonia.

A passionate advocate of contemporary music, she has conducted numerous world premieres of works by contemporary composers. In 2022, she made her debut at the International Festival of Contemporary Music “Warsaw Autumn.”