All through his childhood, Julian was fascinated with woodworking and with his Grandfather, learned to make Archery bows from Yew wood in the style of the 16th century English longbows.

This passion led to a job at Old Town Strings as head of sales in their String Instrument Department. Wishing to further develop his skills as a luthier, Julian went to work as an apprentice for Kim Tipper with a focus on sales and basic repair and set-up. During that time, he also worked at Larsen Music gaining experience working on and setting up string instruments of all sizes.

Julian furthered his education as a Luthier attending multiple courses at the University of New Hampshire Violin Craftmanship Institute with training from world renowned master luthiers. He has studied bow re-hairing, repair and restoration with International award winning bow maker Michael Vann and set-up and acoustic optimization with Master violinmaker Raymond Schryer.

Julian Vitek is a luthier as well as a professional violinist and core member of the Victoria Symphony Orchestra and as such, he understands the needs of a player and sets up an instrument accordingly.

Julian began playing the violin at age 5 studying with Frona Kahoon and Yasuko Eastman. He continued his studies at the Victoria Conservatory of Music with Trudi Conrad, Sydney Humphries, and at the University of Victoria with Ann Elliott-Goldschmidt.

In addition to his classical orchestral commitments, Julian Vitek has performed and recorded in other genres as well, such as Klezmer, Jazz, Gyspy Jazz, Celtic, Tango, Folk and Pop performing alongside artists such as David Foster, Il Divo, The Canadian Tenors , Carlos Nunez and Jann Arden. He has performed numerous times at the TD International Jazz Festival and as a member of The Yiddish Columbia State Orchestra Julian was part of the opening act for Symphony Splash, performing for over 40,000 people.

Julian Vitek is an experienced violin/viola teacher with success teaching various methodologies guided by the RCM (Royal Conservatory of Music) method focusing on fundamental techniques required to play the violin proficiently. Lessons are tailored to each student to develop them into well rounded musicians capable of performing at the highest level both classically and in multiple other genres. Previous experience is preferred, but all ages and levels are accepted.

Julian is in demand as an adjudicator and has been invited to adjudicate at The Vancouver Kiwanis Music Festival, Cowichan Music Festival, Kamloops Festival of the Performing Arts and the Peace River North Performing Arts Festival in Fort St. John. In 2022 Julian adjudicated for his hometown festival, the Greater Victoria Performing Arts Festival.