Julia Lezhneva

Julia Lezhneva (Russian: Юлия Михайловна Лежнева) is a rising operatic soprano sfogato star. Born in Russia in 1989, she showed early signs of musical ability, playing the piano and singing from the age of five. Winner of several internationally prestigious competitions and awards, she has studied with legendary mezzosoprano Elena Obraztsova and renowned tenor Dennis O'Neill CBE and is a protegee of Dame Kiri te Kanawa.

Early Life, Tuition and Awards

Soprano Julia Lezhneva was born on December 5, 1989 in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Sakhalin island), Russia in a family of geophysicists. The family moved to Moscow soon. She began her musical studies at the age of 6. In 2004 Lezhneva graduated with distinction from the Gretchaninov Junior Music School in Moscow. In June 2008 she received an honours degree for her vocal studies and a diploma for piano in Moscow Conservatory Academic Music College. She then decided to continue her studies abroad, particularly at the Cardiff International Academy of Voice under renowned tenor, Dennis O’Neill CBE. During her studies in CIAV, Lezhneva participated in masterclasses of Richard Bonynge, Carlo Rizzi, John Fisher, Kiri te Kanawa, Ileana Cotrubas, Rebecca Evans, etc. She has attended master-classes with Elena Obraztsova in St. - Petersburg in 2007, and with Alberto Zedda at the Accademia Rossiniana in Pesaro in 2008. She also attended masterclasses with Thomas Quasthoff during Verbier Festival 2009 and took part in a private session with Cecilia Bartoli.

She has given solo appearances at the Moscow and St Petersburg Conservatories and at the Bolshoi Theatre and also internationally in Tokyo, Slovakia, Great Britain, Spain, Norway and in Pesaro, Italy. At the age of 12 Lezhneva began to take part in vocal competitions and festivals. She won the Grand Prix at both of Elena Obraztsova's international competitions, the first Competition for Young Singers (2006) and the sixth Competition for Young Opera Singers (2007). In August 2009 she became the youngest winner in the history of the prestigious Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition. Lezhneva won many other awards, including the Russian 'Triumph' award for her contribution to culture and art Despite her young age, Lezhneva has already a rich concert experience, performing at internationally prestigious festivals, such as Salzburg Mozartwoche Festival (with Maestro Marc Minkowski) and Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro (with Maestro Alberto Zedda and Juan Diego Florez)

London Debut

On 13 May 2010, at the age of 20, Lezhneva made her extraordinary successful London debut singing Elena's Final Rondo from G.Rossini's 'La Donna del Lago' at the Classical Brit awards at the Royal Albert Hall. Dame Kiri te Kanawa, recipient of the evening's Lifetime Achievement award, personally introduced Lezhneva as her protegé. Operatic tenor Dennis O'Neill, director at the Cardiff International Academy of Voice, where Lezhneva has studied since September 2008, said

We at the International Academy of Voice at Cardiff University are delighted that our President Dame Kiri te Kanawa has chosen to present Julia as her protégé. It will launch Julia’s career on a global level and we are proud that our work here is also being recognised as the institution to have contributed to the advanced preparation and development of this new world-class artist.^[1]

Future plans

Lezhneva’s future plans include: concert tour and recording of A. Vivaldi’s “Ottone in Villa” with Giovanni Antonini and Il Giargino Armonico in May 2010 as well as the Mozart Matinee solo concerts with Marc Minkowski and Mozarteum Orchestra during the Salzburg Festival 2010. Since September 2010 she will continue studying at the Cardiff International Academy of Voice under Dennis O’Neill. Her operatic stage debut is planned to be in June 2011 at the Brussels Opera 'La Monnaie', where Lezhneva will be performing the role of Urbain, the Page in Meyerbeer’s “Les Huguenots” under the baton of conductor Marc Minkowski.

Repertoire

Lezhneva’s wide repertoire comprises many different styles, including works by A. Vivaldi and R. Broschi, J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel, W. A. Mozart and G. Rossini, V. Bellini and G. Donizetti, J. Massenet and G. Charpentier, N. Rimsky-Korsakov and A. Gretchaninov as well as songs by G. Faure, F. Schubert, H. Berlioz, C. Debussy, L. Boulanger, P. Tchaikovsky, S. Rachmaninoff.