Yulia Lysenko

Ukrainian soprano Yulia Lysenko recently emigrated to the United States after starting her career at the Lviv National Opera. Praised by Opera News Russia for her “bright and clean” soprano and “vivid and effortless” singing, Yulia has thrilled audiences throughout Asia and Europe in principal roles including Violetta (LA TRAVIATA), Mimì and Musetta (LA BOHÈME), Adina (L’ELISIR D’AMORE), Pamina (DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE), Marfa (THE TSAR’S BRIDE), Micaëla (CARMEN), Gilda (RIGOLETTO) and L’Amour (ORPHÉE ET EURYDICE). She made her American debut at the Princeton Festival in 2018, in the title role of MADAMA BUTTERFLY, and joined Piedmont Opera for Mimì (LA BOHÈME) later that year. She will reprise the role of Mimì for her Union Avenue Opera debut this summer, return to Piedmont Opera for her role debut as Elisabetta (MARIA STUARDA) this fall and join Cedar Rapids Opera in the new year in the title role of MADAMA BUTTERFLY. 

Yulia was the first place winner of the International Competition Mystetztvo XXI (Kyiv, Ukraine) and appeared on the television show Zirki v Operi, the Ukrainian adaptation of the British hit show Popstar to Operastar. She has performed with the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus, Alisher Navoi State Academic Bolshoi Theatre and Cadenza European Art Productions, as well as festivals including Toshkent Bahori (Uzbekistan), Festival de Lacoste (France), Slowo i Muzyka u Jezuitow (Poland), Musiques au Coeur (France), Festival Les Nuits Musicales de la Sainte Victoire (France), Minsk International Christmas Opera Forum (Belarus), and the International Opera Art Festival S. Krushelnytska (Ukraine). A sought-after concert artist, her concert repertoire includes Mozart’s REQUIEM and Orff’s CARMINA BURANA, among others. 

Yulia received both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Lviv National Music Academy (Ukraine) and completed master courses of technique and interpretation in Poland under the tutelage of Teresa Zylis-Gara and Kaludi Kaludov. She currently lives in Austin, TX and coaches with Anthony Manoli. 

Reviews:

Adina in L'ELISIR D'AMORE

The opening and main "attraction" of this premiere performance was the main character. Julia Lysenko - an artist who owns a nice, bright and clean soprano, brilliantly performed the part of Adina. Her singing was easy, free, bright and easy. In addition, possessing a charming appearance, she just won the audience its immediate and lively game. - Opera News 

Cio-Cio San in MADAMA BUTTERFLY

Yulia Lysenko, a Ukrainian-trained soprano but now living in the US, approached the role with vocal virtues common among the great mid-20th century exponents of this role: technical security, perfect intonation, and a credibly child-like timbre. - Opera Today

Lysenko conveyed her dramatic change from demure in the first act to strong-minded in the second. Her unaccompanied singing in the second was memorable for its unforced naturalness. And her rendition of “Un bel di” (One Fine Day), the signature aria of the opera, with its harp solo, evoked enthusiastic applause. - Princeton Info

Lysenko in particular showed that Puccini’s music was written for a voice such as hers; gliding across the stage in quasi-platform flip-flops, Lysenko floated higher musical passages over the orchestral accompaniment and clearly was not afraid to sing at a pianissimo volume to make a theatrical or musical point. There was no doubt that she believed what she was singing — that Pinkerton would return to her. Joined in the first act by a well-blended chorus of fellow geishas, Lysenko consistently matched the drama of the music while onstage almost the entire opera. - towntopics.com