Julia Lezhneva

Julia Mikhaylovna Lezhneva (; born 5 December 1989) is a Russian soprano opera singer and recitalist, specialising in soprano and coloratura mezzo-soprano material of the 18th and early 19th century. She studied with Tamara Cherkasova, Irina Zhurina, Elena Obraztsova, Dennis O'Neill and Yvonne Kenny.
Early life and education.
Julia Lezhneva was born 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 Academic Music College. She pursued her studies from 2008 until summer 2010 at the Cardiff International Academy of Voice under Dennis O'Neill with the support of the Kempinski Arts Support Programme initiated by Marylea Van Daalen. Lezhneva there participated in masterclasses of Richard Bonynge, Carlo Rizzi, Kiri Te Kanawa, Ileana Cotrubaș, and Rebecca Evans. She 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.
Lezhneva made solo appearances at the Great, Small and Rachmaninoff Halls of Moscow State Conservatory, the Great and Small Halls of Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, the Bolshoi Theatre and also in Poland, Japan, Slovakia, Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, 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 Vocalists (2006) and the sixth Competition for Young Opera Singers (2007), in which she also won all special prizes. The jury included Christa Ludwig, Eva Marton and Teresa Berganza among others.
In August 2009 Lezhneva became the youngest winner of the Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition, winning first prize during its sixth competition. Among Lezhneva's other awards is the Russian 'Triumph' award for her contribution to culture and art. Lezhneva performed in concerts 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 Flórez).
Career.
Season 2009 - 2010: Vivaldi's Ottone; Classical Brits and Salzburg.
During the 2009/10 season, Julia gave solo performances in the UK, Poland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Norway, and Italy. In January 2010 she made her debut at the Salzburg Mozartwoche Festival, performing the soprano part in Mozart's "Great Mass in C minor" conducted by Marc Minkowski. In April 2010 she participated in the memorial concert for late Polish president Lech Kaczyński, singing the soprano part in Mozart's "Requiem" under Marc Minkowski at the Main Square, Kraków.
Following her British debut in Liverpool in February 2009, Lezhneva made her 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. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, recipient of the evening's Lifetime Achievement award, personally introduced Lezhneva as her protégée. 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.
In 2010 Lezhneva participated in Il Giardino Armonico's European concert tour and recording of Vivaldi's "Ottone in villa" in which she sang the role of Caio. She also gave debut solo concerts at the Salzburg Festival with the Mozarteum Orchestra and Marc Minkowski.
Season 2010 - 2011: Rossini CD, Tour and Les Huguenots - with Marc Minkowski.
Naïve released Lezhneva's first solo recording in spring 2011, Rossini arias with Marc Minkowski and Sinfonia Varsovia. The CD won the Diapason d'Or de l'Année "Jeune talent". It was the "Gramophone" Editor's Choice for July 2011 and the German MDR "CD des Jahres 2011".
Other engagements that season included concert performances of Fiordiligi in Mozart's "Così fan tutte" with Les Musiciens du Louvre, a debut at La Monnaie as Urbain in a new production of Meyerbeer's "Les Huguenots" conducted by Minkowski, Stravinsky's "Le Rossignol" and Tchaikovsky's "Iolanta" at the Salzburg Festival with Ivor Bolton conducting the Mozarteum Orchestra, Mozart's Mass in C Minor under Giovanni Antonini also at the Salzburg Festival, and an American debut in a performances of the Mozart's "Requiem" with Louis Langrée and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra at the Lincoln Center.
Lezhneva's stage debut at La Monnaie in Brussels earned the artist "Nachwuchssängerin des Jahres 2011" from "Opernwelt" magazine.
Season 2011 - 2012: Tamerlano in Salzburg and Vivaldi's L'Oracolo.
This season saw Lezhneva's debut with Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Franz Welser-Möst performing the Mozart's "Great Mass in C minor". She appeared in concerts throughout Europe with several solo programmes, including a Handel tour to Grenoble, Lausanne and Berlin Staatsoper as well as a "Mozart Da Ponte" tour throughout France, both projects with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre. She performed a role of Trasimede in a worldwide premiere European tour (Kraków, Caen, and Vienna Konzerthaus) and made a live recording of Vivaldi's "L'oracolo in Messenia" for Virgin Classics. In a return to the Salzburg Mozartwoche 2012, she performed soprano 2 solo in Bach's "Magnificat" and Mozart's "Litanie" with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre. Lezhneva also performed recitals with pianist Mikhail Antonenko throughout Russian Federation and Europe, including such venues as St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Ghent Festival of Flanders and Torroella Festival. Lezhneva performed a concert with Philippe Jaroussky under Diego Fasolis and I Barrochisti in Neumarkt and recorded a Pergolesi Duet Album for Erato/Warner Classics.
Lezhneva performed Elena's aria from Rossini's "La donna del lago" during the 2012 Victoires de la musique classique ceremony. She returned to the Salzburg Festival for the third consecutive season, singing the role of Asteria in Handel's "Tamerlano" at the Großes Festspielhaus with Marc Minkowski conducting Les Musiciens du Louvre.
Season 2012 - 2013: Handel's Il Trionfo, Il Barbiere and Alleluia CD.
The season saw further projects with Il Giardino Armonico – her new Decca solo album "Alleluia" was released in March 2013 and she performed in numerous solo concerts dedicated to the CD programme throughout Europe. The CD was a Gramophone's "Editor's Choice", and received an Echo Klassik award.
Lezhneva sang the role of Piacere in a concert version of Handel's "Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno" with René Jacobs conducting the Freiburger Barockorchester in a multi-city European tour. She sang the same role with Il Giardino Armonico for the Budapest Spring Festival and Misteria Paschalia Festival in Kraków. 
She performed Rosina in Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" on 14 June 2013, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, conducted Roger Norrington.
Lezhneva also appeared at the televised Semperopernball with Vittorio Grigolo where she sang Rossini's aria "Fra il padre". She performed recitals in Moscow at the December Nights Festival of Sviatoslav Richter at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts with Il Giardino Armonico and at the Great Hall of Moscow State Conservatory conducted by Vladimir Fedoseyev.
Season 2013 - 2014: Handel's Alessandro and Pergolesi CD.
Lezhneva sang the role of Rossane in a concert version Handel's "Alessandro" with George Petrou conducting the Armonia Atenea on the ensemble's tour to the Bucharest Atheneum, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Paris Salle Pleyel and Theater an der Wien.
On 6 October 2013 she received her first Echo Klassik Award, for the "Alleluia" album. She also performed at the ceremony, held at the Konzerthaus Berlin, broadcast nationwide by ZDF.
She continued performing in numerous solo concerts with Il Giardino Armonico in the Bilbao Philharmonic, Barbican Hall London, Vienna Konzerthaus, Zagreb Lisinski Concert Hall, Valladolid, Murcia and at the Halle Festspiele Handel.
Lezhneva performed a recital with pianist Mikhail Antonenko at the Quincena Festival on 6 August 2013 and continued performing recitals during that season at venues which included St. Petersburg Great Philharmonic Hall, Moscow Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (December Nights Festival), Vic L'Atlantida, Pamplona Teatro Gayarre, Girona Auditorium.
Lezhneva made her Australian debut with a recital at the Melbourne Recital Centre and a concert for Hobart Baroque Festival. She also appeared at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow on 26 December 2013 participating at the Elena Obraztsova Anniversary Gala.
January 2014 saw her performing the soprano solo in Pergolesi's "Stabat Mater" with I Barocchisti, conducted by Diego Fasolis at the Essen Philharmonie, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the KKL. In April 2014 Lezhneva performed in solo concerts with the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra under Aapo Haekkinen in a tour that included the Helsinki Music Centre and the Lisbon Gulbenkian.
Season 2014 - 2015: Recital at the Bolshoi, Debut at the Royal Opera House and 'Handel' CD.
Lezhneva started the season with Handel's "Alessandro" in concert version at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. The performance was followed by a recital at the Bolshoi Theatre, opening the new Baroque Festival at the theatre. She continued touring the new Handel programme performing at La Monnaie, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Grand Théâtre de Provence, Munich Herculessaal (televised by ARTE), Hamm, Merano, Basel, Zurich Tonhalle, Aschau and historical Marmorsaal in St Florian performing with different baroque groups, including La Voce Strumentale conducted by Dmitry Sinkovsky, Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Kammerorchester Basel and Concerto Köln. Lezhneva also reprised Hasse's "Siroe" in Budapest Vígszínház and Theater an der Wien. In June 2015 Lezhneva made her London stage debut at the Royal Opera House performing Zerlina in Mozart's "Don Giovanni".
In addition to her live performances Lezhneva recorded "Handel", a new solo album with Il Giardino Armonico. The album was released on October 2015 on the Decca label and is dedicated to the composer's early works written during his trip to Italy between 1706-1710.
Season 2015 - 2016: Handel tour and Six Operas.
Lezhneva's opera performances included Zerlina in "Don Giovanni" on the Royal Opera House's on Japan tour in September 2015; Laodice in Hasse's "Siroe" in Kraków, Moscow and Amsterdam on October 2015; Asteria in Handel's "Tamerlano" at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Barbican Hall in November 2015; Almirena in Handel's "Rinaldo" on a concert tour with Il Pomo d'Oro in February 2016; Desdemona in Rossini's "Otello" at the Liceu in February 2016 (her house debut); and Fiordiligi in Mozart's "Così fan tutte" at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden in May 2016. 
In November–December 2015 Lezhenva toured her new "Handel" album in concerts in Germany, Switzerland, and Moscow. She gave solo concerts in April 2016 at the Budapest Liszt Academy and Prague Estate Theatre for the opening of the new Mozart Festival. In May 2016 she performed an evening of Lieder at the Mozartsaal of Wiener Konzerthaus accompanied by Mikhail Antonenko.
Discography.
As of 30 November 2011, Lezhneva is an exclusive DECCA solo artist.
Reception.
In his review of Lezhneva's recital of Handel arias at the Barbican Theatre in 2014, Andrew Bell called Lezhneva’s voice a phenomenal gift, serene and sleek with a bell like resonance, and technically flawless. He felt her interpretation lacked emotion, remarking on the apparent disconnection of the "voice of notable personality" from the person embodying it. He ranked the performance 3 out of 5 stars.