Vivaldi, Handel and Mozart give Lezhneva a chance to play a dazzling game of Russian roulades.

Federation Concert Hall, Hobart

March 30, 2014

There was a definite buzz in the air for the headline act at this year’s Hobart Baroque. The reputation of the 24-year-old Russian coloratura had clearly preceded her and this was an audience expecting something a little bit special. As the diminutive figure of Julia Lezhneva walked onto the stage in a modest pink gown, the crowd held their breath. Fortunately for them, Lezhneva didn’t hold hers. Off she went at a tremendous pace, a dazzling stream of notes pouring forth in the show stopping Agitata da due venti from Vivaldi’s Griselda. Her intense concentration gave way to more relaxed manner as the concert progressed and by the interval the packed house had already given Lezhneva one standing ovation.

Hers isn’t an enormous voice, though it’s certainly larger than the body that seems to contain it, but it has a crystalline clarity that you imagine could cut through a steel door if required. Allied to this is a coloratura technique, second to none in the world today, that is quite simply breath taking. It’s not a flawless instrument...