Julia Cload was born in London and educated at the Royal College of Music, where she won a three-year scholarship to the Liszt Academy in Budapest. She has performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, working with conductors such as Sir Adrian Boult, Sir John Pritchard, and Bernard Haitink. A recent highlight of her career was playing Bach’s Goldberg Variations at the 2001 Besançon Festival. Her recording for Meridian of the Goldberg Variations won critical raves; Classic CD called it “illuminating playing.” Julia Cload is also recording the complete Haydn keyboard sonatas for Meridian. In a discussion of all recordings of the Haydn sonatas, the Piano Magazine critic wrote: “Of all the pianists considered here…the greatest ‘find’ for me, also the least known, is Julia Cload. Of all the records under discussion, these, for me, are the most haunting…the most eloquent and the most lastingly illuminating.”