DESCRIPTION:
Julia Lezhneva, Soprano (*1989)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: LE NOZZE DI FIGARO
"Deh vieni, non tardar" Susanna's aria Act IV
Conducted by Vladimir Fedoseyev at the Moscow conservatory, live 2012

My personal opinion: Madame Netrebko was asked about her favorite music and her answer was as meaningful as symptomatic for the time in which we live: "Privately I like to listen to hard rock." More thoughtful was the statement of another Russian soprano, the young Julia Lezhneva, born 1989 on the large island of Sakhalin: "My mother said, I'm a natural born singer. Immediatly after birth I've roard loudly and the doc forespoke that I surely would become an opera singer. My mum loves classic music. When you hear classic music during pregnacy, the unborn child listens too. Already as a little girl I loved classic music, just like my mum."
The omnipresent and ever-hungry media saw a sensation after Lezhneva's first professional performances. Instantly one could read that "Julia with the big blue eyes" was "divine", "heavenly" and "the greatest new operatic talent for decades." At least the Decca label invested money in a debut album with solo-motets under the sacred title "Alleluia". Giovanni Antonini conducted the early music ensemble Il Giardino Armonico. Thus the direction was given: The fresh voice of Julia Lezhneva excels in the baroque field of Vivaldi, Porpora and Handel, rounded off with Mozart.
"I love the baroque period", the young soprano explained, "there is so much music to discover. And I like the way how baroque women thought and how much imagination they put in their clothes. It was a very feminine time." A modern singer without interest in modern things? Signs and wonders? Or only political correctness, a clever statement in a time that re-discovers baroque music to make money with it (just think of all the pretty boys from the countertenor community in which David Daniels is a manly appearing exception).
One has to admit, it is a joy to hear and to see Julia Lezhneva sing. One can realize she feels what she sings. Her facial expression and gestures are very present but never exaggerated. It's a rare assimilation, a kind of immerse in music. These intensity forced a YT user to write lovely words: "She sings the most boring arias in a way that make me fall in love with them like I have never before. She delivers the melodies to a new maximum."
Of course, if her success continues, most likely the biz will also spoil her. Sooner or later she has to sing what she doesn't want to sing. The road to the top is covered with blood, sweat and tears. There is no consideration and even less use for a singer with the slightest signs of wear and tear. Lisa della Casa knew: "They squeeze the lemon as long as there is juice, then they throw it away." "The marketplace was always the greatest enemy of an artist", said Orson Welles.
But let us not paint too gloomy a picture. Fortunately we are not there yet. It would be a shame if such talent goes down the tube. There are reasons to hope the downfall will not happen so quickly. Apparently the Russian soprano is a sensitive and clever young woman. The combination of her voice and a baroque orchestra is a dream team, a symbiosis - and she knows it. "I'm fascinated by motets, they are concerts for my voice", she said. And what about opera? She replied: "I prefer opera on the concert stage, because only then you can fully concentrate on the music. In theatres it's half music and half acting. Many times the stage direction overlays the music ...", a statement that reminds me of Richard Wagner who once said to Nietzsche: "Close your eyes, the music is only to be listened to." Julia Lezhneva has no role models: "I am young and I want to discover my own voice." And what about all the praise from the critics? She smiles: "It is their job to write, and it is my job to sing."
Maybe it is her inconspicuousness that makes her so pleasant. She looks like the cute girl next door. She has no catwalk figure. Her face is round, her beauty is classic like a Renaissance painting. There is not the intrusive gallery play of Renée Fleming, Joyce DiDonato or Anna Netrebko, meanwhile called by a daily newspaper 'The Lady Gaga of opera' ...
Julia Lezhneva is still at the beginning, not even 30 years old. Lots of things can happen. Who knows what the future has in store? The young woman grew up in the seclusion of an exotic island, far away from the superficiality of a cosmopolitan world. There are so many ways to describe a voice, but in case of Julia Lezhneva perhaps the nicest compliment at present moment is to say that her singing is simply a delight ...