Yulia.Co.Nz Russian Cinderella Story

Home , Amici Forever, Hayley Westenra

Sings in 10 Languages: English, Russian, Ukrainian, Maori, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Latin & Hebrew. 4.5 Octave Vocal Range Rare Mezzo Soprano Coloratura (Contralto, Mezzo Soprano & Soprano) with mastery of Pop, Folk, Classical, Opera & Chanson technique.

2013 USA Career launch Divinas Live at Chambord Castle on PBS TV 100m + audience reach Divinas Live at Chambord Castle CD & DVD sold nationwide by DECCA records USA Solo Album Recording with Grammy Award Winning Music Producer Craig Leon Divinas CD & DVD Launch Worldwide and USA tour in the fall 2011/2012 Recording Divinas Live at Chambord Castle, France Album Pre Production 2010 Winner Best Nationwide Entertainment, NZ 2010 Live Concert Series Albums (4 Album Boxed Set limited Edition - Direct to fans) 2007 - 2010 Sold out shows across NZ $1.4 million raised for NZ charities Total Immersion Italian/Russian Opera Training 2006 ‘Montage’ debuts at #1, Top 40 Radio Hit “We’re All Alone”, 2 x Platinum Sales Breaks NZ record for ﬁrst NZ female artist to sell two back to back #1 albums. Live performances including performances with Englebert Humperdinck 2005 NZ Music Awards for Best Female Solo Vocal Album & Highest Selling Album of the Year Award. Out sells Finn Brothers & Brooke Fraser. 4 x Platinum Sales, 2 x Top 40 Radio Hits: “Angel” and “Into the West”. 2004 ‘Into the West’ debuts at #1 on NZ Charts for four weeks. Tours Japan with Russell Watson, Live shows with Ivan Rebroff

www.yulia.co.nz Russian Cinderella story

Humble beginnings

A self taught singer with a naturally prodigious 4.5 octave Coloratura Mezzo Soprano range, Yulia came from a poor background, learning to sing in her Grandmothers kitchen in Volgograd, Russia.

Discovered

On emigrating to New Zealand for a better life, Yulia was discovered as a young teenager on a local TV talent show by Gray Bartlett, the music manager who discovered Hayley Westenra. Yulia signed to Sony Music at the tender age of 18 and this was to offer Sony a strong Contralto / Mezzo Soprano alternative to Decca/Universal’s hit selling Soprano Hayley Westenra, also from Christchurch, New Zealand.

Applauded

Yulia’s debut album ‘Into the West’ and Sophomore album ‘Montage’ achieved critical and commercial acclaim, resulting in setting a NZ record with Yulia being the ﬁrst NZ artist to achieve two back to back number one hit albums on debut. Into the West remained on the charts at number one for four weeks.

Awarded

Live tours with Russell Watson, Englebert Humperdinck, Amici Forever and Ivan Rebroff resulted in frequent standing ovations. Yulia’s achievements at this time became recognized at the NZ music awards where Yulia received awards for highest selling album and best female vocal album, achieving six times platinum sales and widely establishing Yulia as a ‘Voice of Rare Beauty’.

www.yulia.co.nz New Management

Yulia was then taken under the wing of ex commercial radio General Manager Glyn MacLean from Oikos Music who developed a plan to take Yulia’s voice to an international audience.

Find My Voice Coloratura Mezzo Soprano

After a formal assessment revealed Yulia to be a Coloratura Mezzo Soprano, the plan would begin with intensive opera training, voice & stage craft conditioning through live concert performances, extensive development of classical, chanson, folk and popular repertoire and linguistics training in 10 languages.

The Plan

★" 2010 Live Concert Series would be recorded to re introduce the now mature voice of Yulia.

★" Winning the Grand Prix in the European Song Competition would afﬁrm a Voice of Rare Beauty.

★" Charity work would ensure that Yulia was all about the music and focused on inspiring audiences.

★" Yulia would be presented to world leading record producers at the peak of her performance.

Singing as a Way of Life

This began with total immersion (lifestyle) studies in Italian/Russian Opera method with Ukrainian Baritone & violinist Valeriy Maksymov.

Choosing the Genre

On conclusion of her training Yulia declined an invitation to be included in New Zealand’s Opera fraternity on the advice of a former patron of NZ Opera, Jeremy Commons, to further develop her rare and unique artistic expression in Chanson.

www.yulia.co.nz Proving the Genre

Yulia was invited to enter the European Song Competition in Riga, Latvia winning with the French chanson song L’Hymne A L’Amour.

In that same year Yulia received a national award for ‘Best Live Entertainment’ for her self-produced sell-out live shows across New Zealand. The ‘stripped back’ 2010 Live Concert Series concerts featuring just Yulia and a concert pianist were independently recorded by Yulia to accurately feature her raw vocal performance.

Charitable Nature

Donating all concert proceeds to charity, Yulia has raised over NZ $1,400,000 for NZ charities since 2007, including Hospice (Palliative Care) and Cancer Society.

Being Chosen Divinas, Live at Chambord Castle

The 2010 Live Concert Series recordings were then promoted extensively online by Oikos Music and discovered by music producer Craig Leon who put out an invitation to audition Yulia as his Mezzo Soprano ‘singer of choice’ for the Divinas project.

At the audition in London, Leon immediately signed Yulia to a four album career launch project with the Divinas concert DVD, CD & PBS promotion serving as the introduction of Yulia to North American audiences.

The story continues...