Julia Lezhneva was born in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in 1989. She studied at the Tchaikovsky Academic Music College at the Moscow State Conservatoire, the Wales International Academy of Voice in Cardiff under Dennis O'Neill, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under Yvonne Kenny. She has participated in master-classes of Elena Obraztsova, Alberto Zedda, Richard Bonynge, Carlo Rizzi, John Fisher, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Vazha Chachava, Teresa Berganza, Thomas Quasthoff, and Cecilia Bartoli.
At the age of 16, Lezhneva made her debut at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire. At the age of 17 she won the Grand Prix of the Elena Obraztsova International Competition of Young Opera Singers in St. Petersburg. A year later, Lezhneva took part in the opening concert of the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro with Juan Diego Flórez. She also participated in the recording of Bach’s Mass in B minor with Les Musiciens du Louvre under the baton of Marc Minkowski (Naïve).
In 2009, Lezhneva won the Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition, and a year after that—the International Opera Singers Competition in Paris. She regularly performs at the most prestigious opera theatres and concert venues in Europe, the USA, Asia, and Australia, including the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and the Barbican Centre in London, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Avery Fisher Hall in New York, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, and the Tonhalle in Zurich. Lezhneva has taken part in festivals in Salzburg, Gstaad, Verbier, Orange, Halle, Wiesbaden, and San Sebastián. Lezhneva has collaborated with such musicians as Marc Minkowski, Giovanni Antonini, Sir Antonio Pappano, Herbert Blomstedt, Philippe Herreweghe, Franz Welser-Möst, Sir Roger Norrington, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, René Jacobs, Diego Fasolis, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Vasily Petrenko, Plácido Domingo, Anna Netrebko, Juan Diego Flórez, Rolando Villazón, and Philippe Jaroussky. She has performed with the leading Baroque ensembles and orchestras of Europe.
Since November 2011 she has been exclusive artist of Decca. Her discography includes Alleluia CD with motets by Vivaldi, Handel, Porpora, and Mozart accompanied by Il Giardino Armonico, Handel’s opera Alessandro, Hasse’s Siroe, Vivaldi’s L'oracolo in Messenia, and Handel CD recorded in collaboration with Giardino Armonico. In 2017, Decca released the singer’s new solo CD featuring the music of Carl Heinrich Graun.
In the summer of 2017, Lezhneva took part in the Don Giovanni production at the Gran Teatre del Liceu. In August, she performed a recital at the Festival Castell de Peralada in Spain.
In the 2017/2018 season, Lezhneva has been Guest Artist of the Lucerne Festival zu Ostern. Her concert engagements for 2018 include concerts in South Korea, the USA, Mexico, participation in Alcina in Hamburg and Siroe in Bayreuth, as well as performances at main concert venues in Russia and Europe.
Information for June 2018
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