He came to public attention with the musical John Paul Jones (2001), based on the life of the Scots-born sailor and hero of the American Revolution.

This piece, which won the 2005 Emre Araci Prize, was inspired by the Soviet War Memorial in Treptow Park in east Berlin.

[9][10] In 2013, the composer was commissioned by the University of Edinburgh to write and produce a short opera to celebrate the Tercentenary of its School of Chemistry which fell that year.

[11] The resulting work, entitled Breathe Freely, is set during the Second World War and premiered in the Assembly Rooms (Edinburgh) on 24 October 2013 in a production supported by Scottish Opera.

[14][15] In November 2021, the national German radio network Deutschlandfunk broadcast a 45-minute retrospective on Julian Wagstaff's life and work, presented by Martina Brandorff.