About me – Yuliya Tkachenko

Biography

Yulia Tkachenko, Ukrainian-born soprano, graduated from the Kyiv Conservatory (National Music Academy of Ukraine). She further refined her artistry through the Young Artist Program at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and at the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro.

Her artistic journey led her to opera later than is usual for most singers. Although she received musical training from an early age, she was initially drawn to the theatre and pursued a successful acting career, performing leading roles at the Nikolaev Drama Theater before moving to Kyiv, where she worked in film and television.
At the age of thirty, she turned her full attention to opera after being heard by Mauro Bertolini, pianist and longtime collaborator of Cecilia Bartoli, who encouraged her to dedicate herself exclusively to singing. After graduating from the Kyiv Conservatory, she moved to Italy.

Yulia made her operatic debut as Mimì in La Bohème at the New Opera of Kyiv in 2017 and was introduced to Italian audiences the following year as Giulietta in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi at Teatro Tiberini.

From 2019 to 2021, she collaborated with the Ravenna Opera Festival, appearing in Schumann’s Szenen aus Goethes Faust, Matteo D’Amico’s Il viaggio di Mastorna, and Aldo Tarabella’s Pinocchio. During the same period, she also participated in the renowned concert series Le Vie dell’Amicizia.

In 2022, she made her Teatro Comunale di Bologna debut in the title role of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta under Michael Güttler. The same season brought performances of Mozart’s Requiem in Piacenza Cathedral with Paolo Olmi, Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the Teatro Regio di Parma under Christopher Franklin, and her appearance as soprano soloist in the documentary Mozart for Solidarity at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Later that year, she portrayed Silvia in Marco Taralli’s contemporary opera Delitto all’Isola delle Capre at the Teatro Pergolesi in Jesi.

Highlights of the 2023 season included her debut at the Prague Spring Festival under Oksana Lyniv, performances as Contessa Olga Sukarev in Giordano’s Fedora at the Teatro Municipale di Piacenza and Teatro Pavarotti-Freni in Modena directed by Pierluigi Pizzi, and her recital debut at the Teatro Grande di Brescia.

She made her Wagner debut at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna as Woglinde in Das Rheingold and Gerhilde in Die Walküre under Oksana Lyniv in 2024, returning the following season as Woglinde in Götterdämmerung. Other recent engagements include Giannetta in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore at the Teatro Regio di Torino, a return to the role of Mimì in La Bohème in Genoa, her German debut with the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra in Zemlinsky’s Lyrische Symphonie, and her debut in Verdi’s Requiem with the Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana under Manlio Benzi.

Future engagements include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana and a European tour with the YsOU Orchestra under Oksana Lyniv.

In recent years, Yulia has performed as a soloist in some of Europe’s most prestigious opera houses and concert halls, including the Lithuanian National Opera, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Rudolfinum Dvořák Concert Hall (Prague Spring Festival), the Bozar Concert Hall in Brussels, the Palais des Congrès in Strasbourg, the Salle du Solarium in Bordeaux, and the Israeli National Opera.
She has worked with conductors including Oksana Lyniv, Christopher Franklin, Sesto Quatrini, Michael Güttler, Gustav Kuhn, Paolo Olmi, Aldo Sisillo, and Fabrizio Maria Carminati, as well as stage directors Pier Luigi Pizzi, Cristina Mazzavillani Muti, Walter Malosti, Luca Micheletti, and Daniele Menghini.

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Yulia has appeared in numerous benefit recitals and concerts around the world in support of her homeland.

Operatic Repertoire

Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro, Mozart)
Donna Anna (Don Giovanni, Mozart)
Giulietta (I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Bellini)
Adina (L’elisir d’amore, Donizetti)
Violetta (La Traviata, Verdi)
Desdemona (Otello, Verdi)
Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi, Puccini)
Liù (Turandot, Puccini)
Mimì (La Bohème, Puccini)
Micaela (Carmen, Bizet)
Contessa Olga Sukarev (Fedora, Giordano)
Iolanta (Iolanta, Tchaikovsky)
Tatiana (Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky)
Woglinde (Das Rheingold, Wagner)
Gerhilde (Die Walküre, Wagner)

Cantatas & Oratorios

Stabat Mater (Pergolesi)
Requiem (Fauré)
Requiem (Mozart)
Messa Solenne (Rossini)
Requiem (Verdi)

REVIEWS AND CRITICISM

"Still, much of the expression fell to Ukrainian soprano Yulia Tkačenko, who sang with operatic anguish. Tkačenko is a rarity, a high soprano with the heft of a lower register, an ideal voice for carrying delicate lines freighted with emotional angst. The juxtaposition of purity and pain was captivating, a deeply personal outcry that at the same time spoke for multitudes."

Frank Kuznik

Bachtrack ( Prague Spring Festival, May 2024)

"The solo part was performed by the Ukrainian singer Yulia Tkachenko, an artist with a successful balance of competition successes and opera engagements in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe, especially in Italy. Her dominant expressive position lies in a rather mobile anchoring somewhere in the middle between lyrical and dramatic expression.(...) The roughly twenty-minute piece was performed in its entirety, without caesuras, attacca, and Yulia Tkachenko's performance sounded completely authentic. The audience was enthusiastic about her performance as well as the collective one, and the applause showed it appropriately. This undoubtedly enhanced the success of the important piece of music, which had it's world premiere in Prague."

Julius Hulek

Klasikaplus ( Prague Spring Festival, May 2023 )

"In the title role, we find fellow countrywoman Yuliya Tkachenko. A vocally well-executed performance, thanks to a sound and musical instrument that is smooth in the mid-range and well-projected towards the high notes. A refined performer who, through engaged phrasing and naturally expressive gestures, successfully portrays the character from initial innocence to the throbbing ecstasy of the finale."

Opera Libera

( Iolanta, Aprile 2022 )

"Yuliya Tkachenko is a Princess Iolanta with a vibrant, fresh, and full vocal delivery."

Giornaledellamusica

"A charming and lively Yuliya Tkachenko also appears extremely at ease in the role of Countess Olga Sukarev. Her performance, convincing from the start, builds up over time, with the soprano displaying increasing confidence and musicality, while the actress gradually reveals the character’s more subtle psychological traits."

ApeMusicale

"Yuliya Tkachenko is excellent in the role of a sensual yet highly elegant Olga. The soprano stands out for her bright and well-toned voice, with a delicate delivery and remarkable projection in the upper register. Her phrasing is lively, as is her stage presence, always confident and carefree."

Opera Libera

"Also remarkable is the performance of soprano Yuliya Tkachenko, captivating on stage and possessing a light lyric voice with a tone that is not too sharp, but rather smooth and rounded."

Gbopera

"Yuliya Tkachenko completed the quartet of protagonists in the role of Countess Olga. The Ukrainian soprano impressed with her light and crystal-clear voice, as well as excellent diction and stage presence."

The.blogArtPost

"Elegant and musically delightful, Yuliya Tkachenko's Olga."

Andrea Merli

Impiccione Viaggiatore

"De Siriex (...) is well countered by Yuliya Tkachenko’s fresh, lively, and well-sung Olga Sukarev, who is appreciated for her charmingly playful portrayal of the character."

Artesnews

"Well-chosen were also the three lively (and later desperate) Rhine Daughters: (...) the vibrant and brilliant Yuliya Tkachenko (Woglinde), previously Iolanta at the Teatro Comunale."

Silvano Capecchi

OperaClik ( Das Rheingold, Giugno 2024 )