ULIE HUBENER is the Director of Music and Liturgy at St. Mary’s Visitation Parish in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. She holds a B.A. in Music from Luther College and an M.M. in Music (Opera and Musical Theater). Julie grew up singing in excellent choirs. She was a chorister through her years at Luther College and their internationally-known choral program. Before her official work with the Church began, she pursued a career on the operatic and musical theater stage in Milwaukee and Chicago. While she has always cantored, the transition to focus on sacred music began after her children were born. In her role as director, in the fall of 2024 she began rehearsing and conducting the school choir and has launched three new parish choirs: Schola Cantorum (the Sunday adult choir), Schola Angelorum (the parish children’s choir), and Schola Immaculata (the advanced women’s choir).
She made her professional debut at age 17 in the regional premiere of “White Christmas” (SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATER, 2007). Julie sang soubrette opera roles throughout her college years. She won the Concerto Competition in 2014 at Southern Illinois University and performed Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the University Orchestra. Following her graduate work, she made her professional operatic debut as ‘Alisa’ in Lucia di Lammermoor and was the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Coronation Mass at the Southern Illinois Music Festival. She originated the musical stage role of ‘Bobo’ in Spookley the Square Pumpkin (FIRST STAGE CHILDREN’S THEATER). Julie is highly proficient in German, having attended the German School at Middlebury College in Vermont. With her husband and three children, she resides in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.
