Julia Lezhneva

• File:Https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=9af7f52b74&view=att&th=12839169edd94208&attid=0.2&disp=thd&realattid=f g8cxligs1&zw

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 protégé of Dame Kiri te Kanawa.

Early Life, Tuition and Awards

Julia Lezhneva was born on December 5, 1989 in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Sakhalin island), Russia, into a family of geophysicists. In 2004 Lezhneva graduated with distinction from the Gretchaninov Music School in Moscow. In June 2008 she received an honours degree for her vocal studies and a diploma for piano at the Moscow Conservatory. She pursued her studies from 2008 at the Cardiff International Academy of Voice (CIAV) under Dennis O'Neill. While at CIAV, Lezhneva participated in masterclasses of Richard Bonynge, Carlo Rizzi, John Fisher, Kiri te Kanawa, Ileana Cotrubas, and Rebecca Evans. She has attended masterclasses 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 the 2009 Verbier Festival 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 Italy. At the age of 12 Lezhneva began to participate 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 ever winner of the Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition. Among Lezhneva's many other awards is the Russian 'Triumph' award for her contribution to culture and art. Notwithstanding her youth, Lezhneva has already amassed substantial concert experience, performing at such international festivals as the Salzburg Mozartwoche Festival (with conductor Marc Minkowski) and Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro (with conductor Alberto Zedda and tenor Juan Diego Flores).

London Debut

Following her acclaimed British debut in Liverpool during February 2010,, Lezhneva made her extraordinarily successful London debut on 13 May 2010, at the age of 20, singing Elena's Final Rondo from Rossini's La Donna del Lago at the Classical Brit awards at the Royal Albert Hall, televised by ITV. Dame Kiri te Kanawa, recipient of the evening's Lifetime Achievement award, personally introduced Lezhneva as her protégé. 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.

Future plans

The Classical Brits Awards ceremony was televised by ITV and will be aired in the United Kingdom on 18 May 2010 at 10.35 pm GMT.

Lezhneva’s future plans include: a concert tour and recording for Naïve Records Vivaldi’s Ottone in Villa with Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico including performance at the Barbican Arts Centre in London on May 21 2010. She will give Mozart Matinée solo concerts with Marc Minkowski and the Mozarteum Orchestra during the Salzburg Festival 2010.

From September 2010 she will continue studying at the International Academy of Voice at Cardiff University under Dennis O’Neill. Lezhneva's opera stage debut is scheduled for June 2011 at La Monnaie for the National Opera of Belgium, performing the role of Urbain, the Page in Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots under the baton of Marc Minkowski.

Repertoire

Lezhneva’s repertoire ranges across many styles, from Baroque to bel canto to Romantic. It comprises works by Vivaldi and Broschi, Bach and Handel, Mozart and Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti, Massenet and Charpentier, Rimsky-Korsakov and Gretchaninov. She also performs songs by Fauré, Schubert, Berlioz, Debussy, Boulanger, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov.

External links

• Lezhneva's winning performances at the Mirjam Helin competition, 2009
• Lezhneva performs "Son qual nave ch'agitata" by Broschi
• Lezhneva's rendition of "Lascia ch'io pianga", by Handel
• Lezhneva performs Rachmaninov's song, "Daisies," in recital with piano accompaniment

Discography

Bach, Mass in B Minor, Naïve, 2009. SPARS Code: DDD ASIN: B001JPB9LE