She's got fresh mezzo shades of Baroque coloratura that rival la Ceci's and she performs like her ex is watching. Russian import Julia Lezhneva was deigned in 2010 by Kiri Te Kanawa as guest artist at the Classical Brits where she slayed Rossini's Fra il padre from La donna del Lago, clip above.
While most 23-year-olds are snapchatting and sexting to a Skrillex soundtrack, she prefers 18th century rockstars like Bach and thinks that mixing populist tracks with opera is just a fad.
Next month bows her first solo release on Decca, tracks by Vivaldi, Handel and Porpora with a Mozart Exsultate, jubilate to the H.I.P. strains of Il Giardino Armonico.
We discovered her this past fall as a glistening Rossane in Händel's Alessandro with star counertenor Max Emanuel Cenčić, formerly of the popular Austrian boyband, The Vienna Boys' Choir.