College of the Arts alumna Julie Zobel found the love of her life at the University of Florida thanks to music. Julie (B.Mus. in Music Education '01) first met Les Zobel (B.Mus '02) in their music history class.
Les said he noticed her when he first visited UF for his audition before they had even officially met. Sparks started to fly when they finally had class together.
“I saw him on the first day of music history class, and my friends instantly knew I had a crush,” Julie said.
Julie explained that she and Les had difficulty concentrating during their lectures until they finally worked up the courage to speak to each other instead of just ogling each other.
Once they talked, they discovered they were both in trumpet studio. From there, Julie and Les began studying together, practicing together, playing gigs around town together and even worked at Disney World together as trumpet-playing toy soldiers.
Julie and Les have been together for 18 years and married for 14. At their wedding, their music history professor, Dr. David Kushner, played played piano. As one of the reasons that Julie and Les came together, Kushner became a close family friend and now attends their daughter's piano concerts.
Currently residing in Gainesville, Julie and Les spend time making music together as a family with their daughter.
Julie offers a piece of relationship advice.
“Don't lose what brought you together," she said. "For us, it was music."
