Julia Mikhailovna Lezhneva |

Julia Lezhneva

The owner of the “voice of angelic beauty” (New York Times), “purity of tone” (Die Welt), “impeccable technique” (The Guardian), “phenomenal gift” (The Financial Times), Yulia Lezhneva is one of the few singers who have achieved a wide international fame at such an early age. Norman Lebrecht, describing the artist’s talent, called her “soaring into the stratosphere”, and The Australian newspaper noted “a rare combination of innate talent, disarming sincerity, comprehensive artistry and exquisite musicality … – a deep unity of physical and vocal expression.”

Yulia Lezhneva regularly performs at the most prestigious opera houses and concert halls in Europe, the USA, Asia and Australia, including the Royal Albert Hall, the Covent Garden Opera House and the Barbican Center in London, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and the Salle Pleyel in Paris, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Avery Fisher Hall in New York, Melbourne and Sydney Concert Halls, Essen Philharmonic and Dortmund Konzerthaus, NHK Hall in Tokyo, Vienna Konzerthaus and Theater An der Wien, Berlin State Opera and Dresden Semperoper, Alte Opera in Frankfurt and the Zurich Tonhalle, Theater La Monnet and the Palace of Arts in Brussels, the Great Hall of the Conservatory and the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. She is a welcome guest at the most prestigious festivals – in Salzburg, Gstaad, Verbier, Orange, Halle, Wiesbaden, San Sebastian.

Among the musicians Yulia Lezhneva collaborates with are conductors Mark Minkowski, Giovanni Antonini, Sir Antonio Pappano, Alberto Zedda, Philippe Herreweghe, Franz Welser-Möst, Sir Roger Norrington, John Eliot Gardiner, Conrad Junghenel, Andrea Marcon, René Jacobs, Louis Langre, Fabio Biondi, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Diego Fazolis, Aapo Hakkinen, Ottavio Dantone, Vladimir Fedoseev, Vasily Petrenko, Vladimir Minin; singers Placido Domingo, Anna Netrebko, Juan Diego Flores, Rollando Villazon, Joyce DiDonato, Philip Jaroussky, Max Emanuel Tsencic, Franco Fagioli; leading baroque ensembles and orchestras of Europe.

The artist’s repertoire includes works by Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Porpora, Hasse, Graun, Throws, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Rossini, Bellini, Schubert, Schumann, Berlioz, Mahler, Fauré, Debussy, Charpentier, Grechaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky , Rachmaninov.

Yulia Lezhneva was born in 1989 in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. She studied at the Academic College of Music at the Moscow Conservatory, the International Academy of Vocal Performance in Cardiff (Great Britain) with the outstanding tenor Dennis O’Neill and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with Yvonne Kenny. She improved in master classes with Elena Obraztsova, Alberto Zedda, Richard Boning, Carlo Rizzi, John Fisher, Kiri Te Kanava, Rebecca Evans, Vazha Chachava, Teresa Berganz, Thomas Quasthoff and Cecilia Bartoli.

At the age of 16, Yulia made her debut on the stage of the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, performing the soprano part in Mozart’s Requiem (with the Moscow State Academic Chamber Choir conducted by Vladimir Minin and the Moscow Virtuosos State Chamber Orchestra). At the age of 17, she achieved her first international success, winning the Grand Prix at the Elena Obraztsova Competition for Young Opera Singers in St. Petersburg. A year later, Yulia already performed at the opening of the Rossini Festival in Pesaro with the famous tenor Juan Diego Flores and the orchestra conducted by Alberto Zedda, took part in the recording of Bach’s Mass in B minor with the ensemble “Musicians of the Louvre” conducted by M. Minkowski (Naïve).

In 2008, Yulia was awarded the Triumph Youth Prize. In 2009, she became the winner of the Mirjam Helin International Vocal Competition (Helsinki), a year later – the International Opera Singing Competition in Paris.

In 2010, the singer made her first European tour and performed for the first time at a festival in Salzburg; made her debut in the halls of Liverpool and London; made the first recording (Vivaldi’s opera “Ottone in the Villa” on the Naïve label). Soon followed by debuts in the US, Theater La Monnet (Brussels), new recordings, tours and performances at major European festivals. In 2011, Lezhneva received the Young Singer of the Year award from Opernwelt magazine.

Since November 2011, Yulia Lezhneva has been the exclusive artist of Decca. Her discography includes the album Alleluia with virtuoso motets by Vivaldi, Handel, Porpora and Mozart, accompanied by the ensemble Il Giardino Armonico, recordings of the operas “Alexander” by Handel, “Syra” by Hasse and “The Oracle in Messenia” by Vivaldi, the solo album “Handel” with the ensemble Giardino Armonico – a total of 10 albums, mostly with baroque music, the unsurpassed master of which Yulia Lezhneva is recognized throughout the world. The singer’s discs topped many European classical music charts and received enthusiastic responses from the world’s leading publications, were awarded the Diapason d’Or awards in the Young Artist of the Year, Echo-Klassik, Luister 10 and Gramophone magazine Editor’s Choice awards.

In November 2016, the singer received the J. Schiacca Award in the Vatican from the International Association for Culture and Volunteering “Man and Society”. This award is given, in particular, to young cultural figures who, according to the founders, have attracted public attention through their activities and who can be considered models for new generations.

The singer began 2017 with a performance in Krakow in N. Porpora’s Germanicus in Germany at the Opera Rara festival. In March, following the release of the CD on the Decca label, the opera was performed in Vienna.

Solo concerts by Yulia Lezhneva were successfully held in Berlin, Amsterdam, Madrid, Potsdam, at the Easter festivals in Lucerne and Krakow. The most important event was the appearance of the singer’s new solo album on Decca, dedicated to the work of the XNUMXth century German composer Karl Heinrich Graun. Immediately after the release, the album was named “disc of the month” in Germany.

In June, the singer sang on the stage of the Gran Teatro del Liceo in Madrid in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, in August she performed a solo concert at the festival in Peralada (Spain) with a program of works by Vivaldi, Handel, Bach, Porpora, Mozart, Rossini, Schubert. In the coming months, Yulia Lezhneva’s concert schedule includes performances in Lucerne, Friedrichshafen, Stuttgart, Bayreuth, Halle.