Julia Lezhneva & Dani Espasa

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Image courtesy of L'Auditori

Julia Lezhneva is a Russian soprano opera singer and recitalist, specialising in soprano material of the 18th and early 19th century. She began to play the piano and sing when she was five years old. On her graduation from the Gretchaninov School of Music, she continued her vocal and piano studies at the Moscow Conservatory Academic Music College. When she was seventeen, she attracted international attention by winning the Elena Obraztsova Competition for Opera Singers. The following year, she shared the stage with Juan Diego Flórez at the opening of the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro. In 2009, she was awarded first prize at the Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition in Helsinki and, the following year, first prize at the Paris Opera Competition.

Dani Espasa studied piano at the Conservatories of Tarragona and Barcelona, and architecture at the UPC in Barcelona. He has worked as a composer, pianist and musical director of theater, dance and television (TV3 and TVE). In addition to being the producer and composer of several albums by Lídia Pujol, he is also the musical director, pianist and accordionist of the singer Maria del Mar Bonet. He has conducted the contemporary music ensemble Bcn216, and has premiered and recorded piano pieces by composer Joan Albert Amargós and Enric Granados. Since 2003 he has been a pianist and harpsichordist collaborating with the OBC, with whom he has recorded as a soloist for the Naxos, Harmonia Mundi and BIS Records labels.

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