© Victoria Chernysheva
Mezzo Soprano
Yulia Matochkina
"... the ideal mélange of metal and velvet in her timbre, authentically Italianate in style" - The Opera Critic
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Upcoming Past
May 2025
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Daniele Rustioni, Conductor
Francesco Micheli, Stage Director
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Daniele Rustioni, Conductor
Francesco Micheli, Stage Director
May 2025
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Daniele Rustioni, Conductor
Francesco Micheli, Stage Director
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Mar 2025
22.
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Rafael Sánchez-Araña, Conductor
Carlo Antonio De Luciua, Stage Director
Mar 2025
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Rafael Sánchez-Araña, Conductor
Carlo Antonio De Luciua, Stage Director
Mar 2025
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Rafael Sánchez-Araña, Conductor
Carlo Antonio De Luciua, Stage Director
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Biography Highlights
Upcoming
Return to Bayerische Staatsoper as Ulrica Un ballo in maschera and as Santuzza Cavalleria rusticana, to The Royal Ballet and Opera as Azucena Il Trovatore and to Deutsche Oper Berlin as Amneris Aida. Santuzza Cavalleria rusticana with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Carmen with Ópera de Las Palmas.
Future engagements also include Opernhaus Zürich, Staatsoper Hamburg, Opéra national de Paris.
Recent
Return to Deutsche Oper Berlin as Amneris Aida and Ortrud Lohengrin. Debuts as Azucena Il trovatore and Venus Tannhäuser at Bayerische Staatsoper. Eboli Don Carlo at The Metropolitan Opera, Semperoper Dresden, The Royal Ballet and Opera, Amneris Aida and Ulrica Un ballo in maschera at the Spring Festival Tokyo with Riccardo Muti, Dalila Samson et Dalila with Opera de Tenerife. Verdi’s Requiem at Opernhaus Zürich, the Verbier Festival, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, the Dutch National Opera, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Carmen at Arena di Verona, Azucena Il trovatore at Opernhaus Zürich, Ulrica Un ballo in maschera at Teatro alla Scala, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Marfa Khovanshchina with Opéra national de Paris, Federica Luisa Miller at Staatsoper Hamburg and the Salzburg Festival.
Portraits
© Victoria Chernysheva
© Victoria Chernysheva
© Victoria Chernysheva
© Victoria Chernysheva
©
©
© Victoria Chernysheva
©
© Victoria Chernysheva
©
Kundry
Wagner - Parsifal
Kundry
Wagner - Parsifal
Lyubasha
Rimsky-Korsakov - Tsar's Bride
Lyubasha
Rimsky-Korsakov - Tsar's Bride
Princess de Bouillon
Cilea - Adriana Lecouvreur
Princess de Bouillon
Cilea - Adriana Lecouvreur
Je vais mourir ... Adieu, Fière Cite
Les Troyens
Je vais mourir ... Adieu, Fière Cite
Les Troyens
Reviews & Press
Staatsoper Dresden - Verdi - Don Carlos - Princess Eboli
Russian mezzo-soprano Yulia Matochkina put her heart and soul into the role of Princess Eboli and in her famous aria O don fatale she revealed her rich mezzo-soprano creating considerable drama.
- Michael Cookson
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Julia Matochkina's Princess Eboli to many opera enthusiasts may well be the winner of the unintentional vocal competition in this Don Carlo on German soil. Her mezzo-soprano voice is truly a natural gift: the splendid timbre, rich in nuances, the homogeneous registers, the impeccable technique.
- Irina Sorokina , L'Ape Musicale
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Bayerische Staatsoper - Verdi - Il Trovatore - Azucena
Yulia Matochkina inspire en Azucena un personnage d’un grand raffinement, capable autant de puiser dans une noirceur nobiliaire que d’extérioriser des aigus brillants.
- Fomalhaut
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Der Azucena lieh Yulia Matochkina ihren vollmundigen Mezzo, der frei von Brüchen durch alle Register strömt und dessen Tiefe ebenso samtig ist wie die Höhe strahlend. Noch mehr als die pure Technik faszinierte aber die Gestaltung, denn sie interpretierte die Rolle nicht bloß als rachegetriebene Hexe, sondern als traumatisierte Frau, die mit ihren inneren Dämonen kämpft; für jede widerstreitende Gefühlsregung fand sie in ihrer Stimme die richtige Farbe und auch darstellerisch brachte sie diese Gefühle packend über die Rampe.
- Isabella Steppan , Bachtrack
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...la solidité d’une voix sans limite apparente, la chaleur d’un « Condotta ell’era in ceppi » halluciné, la pugnacité véhémente de « Ralento, o barbari » et surprenant après de telles démonstrations de force, la douceur mezza voce au dernier acte d’une berceuse apaisée, exhalée du bout des lèvres.
- Christophe Rizoud , Forum Opera
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Bayerische Staatsoper - Wagner - Tannhäuser - Venus
De hermosos ribetes sonoros la concisa y exhuberante voz de la mezzo rusa Yulia Matochkina, quien supo plegarse a la generosa particella de Venus, en esta versión “final” de la ópera Wagneriana. De canto pleno, color pulposo y escénicamente con la carnalidad propia de la diosa del amor, Matochkina brilló con luz propia.
- Jordi Maddaleno , Platea
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Yulia Matochkina, en cambio, es una Venus mucho más conforme a la ortodoxia wagneriana. Posee une voz grande, de bello timbre, con un buen centro, pero que sobre todo resplandece en el segmento superior de su tesitura. Su interpretación refleja todas las facetas que exige este papel con sus fuertes cambios de afectos, pero acentuando más el temperamento apasionado y dominante del personaje que su faceta sensual y seductora.
- J. G. MESSERSCHMIDT , Pro Opera
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Teatro dell'Opera di Roma - Verdi - Requiem - Mezzo Soprano
Magnifica nel velluto dell’emissione e per la padronanza dei suoni agli estremi del suo registro, poi, il mezzosoprano Yulia Matochkina che, da verdiana doc, scontorna un Liber scriptus da manuale per la quota espressiva con cui governa accenti, pause e dinamiche, le sfumature in pianissimo nei salti o l’incedere in crescendo nel doppio puntato, accompagnando ad arte le esplosioni di voce.
- Paola De Simone , Paola De Simone
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Covent Garden - Verdi - Don Carlos - Princess Eboli
Yulia Matochkina made a lively and rather sly Eboli. Matochkina has a finely lithe voice and there was a youthfulness and flexibility to her account of the Veil Song, which 'O don fatale' in Act Four was telling. And throughout she was a lively presence in the drama.
- Planet Hugill
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Wagner - Lohengrin - Ortrud
.. Yulia Matochkina was an Ortrud of white-hot intensity – her invocation of the gods in the second act pinned you to the back of your seat.
- Keith McDonnell , Opera + Classical Music Reviews
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Opera de Tenerife - Saint-Saëns - Samson et Dalila - Dalila
We can say with all conviction that the fact that this performance was in concert version did not detract one iota of emotion or spectacularity from the event. Especially the chemistry between Gyngazov and Matochkina was among the best we have seen and heard in the Auditorium lately. And with the Auditorium its always exquisite choices, that's saying a lot.
Mezzo-soprano Yulia Matochkina portrayed the role of Dalila. With her powerful mezzo-soprano voice she proved that she is one of the best, showing enormous skill both vocally and artistically, that perfectly alowed her to incarnate the complex character of Dalila. Her performance was imposing in every moment that made the audience of the Auditorium in love with her.
- Celia García , En Platea
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Russian mezzo-soprano Yulia Matochkina presented a huge vocal range, remarkable scale, and a variety of colours across the register that allowed her to portray everything from seduction to anger, hate and false despair.
- Estrella Ortega , Opera Actual
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Verdi, G. - Don Carlo - Princess Eboli
the most compelling Eboli the company (Metropolitan Opera) has had in decades
- Francisco Salazar , operawire.com
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Yulia Matochkina was a visually alluring and vocally exciting Princess Eboli. The Russian mezzo-soprano, who made her Met debut in 2022 as Maddalena in Rigoletto, has a powerhouse of a voice. Its beauty was revealed in her enticing and provocative Veil Song, while the intensity which she brought to “O don fatale’, made the aria the showstopper it should be.
- Rick Perdian , newyorkclassicalreview.com
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Stichting Omroep Muziek - Verdi - Requiem
Yulia Matochkina is een mezzosopraan van Verdiaans formaat, krachtig en voluptueus.
- Jenny Camilleri , de Volkskrant
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De Russische Yulia Matochkina klonk even majestueus als mysterieus... het androgyne karakter paste perfect bij het quasi-gregoriaanse Agnus Dei.
- Martin Toet , Place d'Opera
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Bizet - Carmen - Carmen
Grandios die russische Mezzosopranistin Yulia Matochkina. Die Stimme der Matochkina trägt nicht nur durch den gewaltigen Raum, sie verzaubert in ihrem tiefen, warmen, geschmeidigen Timbre; präzis und doch sehr menschlich, leidenschaftlich und dann wieder (in der Gebirgs- und in der Schlussszene) von unerbittlicher, steinerner Härte.
- Dr. E. Ritterband
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Teatro alla Scala - Verdi, G. - Un Ballo in Maschera - Ulrica
... while the really difficult role of Ulrica finds in Yulia Matochkina a mezzo-soprano capable of pretending to be a laudably contralto.
- Giancarlo Arnaboldi , Connessi all'Opera
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Yulia Matochkina ha gran voce di timbro seducente, che utilizza senza ostentazione, e delinea una validissima Ulrica. Sfoggia una emissione sul fiato che le consente nell’invocazione, con un opportuno legato, di trasmettere l’ambiguità sfuggente del personaggio, prima con cupa solennità, poi virata in esaltata minaccia, vedi “È lui, è lui!”, con un bel salto d’ottava dal Do grave sotto il rigo al Labemolle acuto. Quindi, senza tentennamenti, la voce si inabissa molto bene in un Sol grave risonante a “Silenzio”, per poi concludere con un La acuto timbrato. Utilizza con fantasia i chiaroscuri necessari a dipingere di fosco mistero “Dalla città all’occaso” e carica di presagi di morte tutto il finale d’atto.
- Ugo Malasoma , Opera Click
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Note positive per la Ulrica di Yulia Matochkina. La voce, dal bel colore scuro, si mostra ben salda, tornita nei centri e naturale nei gravi; particolarmente curato, inoltre, l’accento, sempre sfumato ed incisivo.
- Marco Faverzani; Giorgio Panigati , Opera Libera
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Verdi - Un Ballo in Maschera - Ulrica / Madame Arvidson
The lengthy second scene of Act I, located in the “sorceress’s cavern,” is rightly dominated by the figure Ulrica. In this role, Ms. Matochkina’s singing is revelatory: her extensive vocal range is even, vocal projection is disciplined yet varied, and tonal colors suggest an ample spectrum of emotional possibilities. In her introductory evocation, “Re dell’abisso, affrettati” (“King of the depths, make haste”) Matochkina emitted deeply felt low pitches in her call to raise the spirit to assist her visions. In the second part of her aria the fortune-teller’s palpable excitement was evident on the words “E lui, è lui!” (“It is he, it is he!”). Here Matochkina used blazing top notes to celebrate her success before returning to the earlier low pitches while demanding within her cavern “Silenzio!”
In the balance of the scene Ulrica uses her enhanced powers to tell the fortune of or to dispense advice in succession to the fisherman Silvano, to Amelia, wife of Renato, and finally to the nobleman Riccardo. In each instance Matochkina assumed a vocal color appropriate to the nature of her revelation. In promising Silvano gold and position she attempted to reassure his disbelief. In her advice to Amelia to summon courage while plucking the herb of forgetfulness Matochkina seemed to challenge the tentative fears expressed in Ms. El-Khoury’s cautious entrance. Finally, the prediction of Riccardo’s death at the hand of a friend identified by a handshake is unleashed by the seeress with grim finality.
- Salvatore Calomino , operatoday.com
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The role of the mystic Ulrica came into sharp focus with Yulia Matochkina, who sang with commanding intensity and consummate musicianship. Matochkina’s textured voice made Ulrica emerge with striking presence. Her voice was both strong and supple, and the audience showed its appreciation for Matochkina’s effort with spontaneous and well-deserved applause. It was a pleasure to hear this talented singer make her Chicago debut with such a moving performance.
- James Zychowicz , Seen and Heard International
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Enter Ulrica, the fortune teller (in a notably mighty performance by the formidable mezzo-soprano Yulia Matochkina).
- Hedy Weiss , wttw
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Verdi - Il Trovatore - Azucena
Denn diese Azucena von Yulia Matochkina stellte ein Ereignis der Extraklasse dar, eine stimmliche Urgewalt, riss mit ihren grossen Arien, Erzählungen und Szenen wie Stride la vampa, Giorni poveri videa oder Ai nostri monti ritorneremo restlos mit und löste Beifallsstürme aus. Aber nicht nur in ihren Fortissimo-Ausbrüchen war sie umwerfend, nein sie verfügte auch über eine betörende Piano-Kultur, welche gerade im Schlussbild sehr berührte.
- Erstellt von Kaspar Sannemann
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Matochkina reached similar heights in her portrayal of the Romani woman intent on avenging her mother’s death at the hand of di Luna’s father. She was spellbinding in “Stride la vampa” and in her duet with Manrico, “Ai mostri monti ritorneremo”. In the latter, Matochkina expressed her longing to return to the mountains with a far-away dreamlike simplicity and truly beautiful sound.
- Rick Perdian
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Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra - Berlioz - La Damnation de Faust - Marguerite
Yulia Matochkina fait preuve de brio dans le rôle de Marguerite, mezzo-soprano ample dans les graves et agile dans les aigus, sa voix est claire et timbrée, son chant est distinct. Notamment, elle souligne avec délicatesse l’ « assoupissement » du texte et de la musique à la reprise du thème sus-mentionné, allant jusqu’à chanter les élisions et silences du texte. Par ailleurs, son interprétation de l’aria “D’amour, l’ardente flamme” est impeccable, sa voix est équilibrée et son souffle parfaitement maîtrisé. Particulièrement expressive, dans ses nuances comme dans sa gestuelle, elle émeut et émerveille le public.
- Fanny Bousquet , Première Loge
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die Mezzosopranistin Yulia Matochkina, die mit schönem, rundem Timbre gut mit der Solobratsche und dem Englischhorn in ihren Arien harmoniert...
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma - Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin - Olga
ottima anche la prestazione nei panni di Olga della connazionale Yulia Matochkina, autentica voce di contralto dalle note gravi potenti e tornite, gradevoli da ascoltare
- Michelangelo Pecoraro , Operaclick
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Münchener Philharmoniker - Wagner - Tristan und Isolde - Brangäne
Yulia Matochkina sang eine Brangäne von stimmschöner Eindringlichkeit und Poesie. Auf ihre sonore Tiefe schloss sich eine prächtige Mittellage an, die in eine leuchtende, glühende und ungemein klangschöne Höhe gipfelte.
- Michael Stange , ioco.de
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Philharmonie de Paris - Wagner - Parsifal - Kundry
Exceptionnelle Kundry de Yulia Matochkina avec Gergiev à Paris. La distribution vocale est (...) irréprochable, dominée par l’exceptionnelle prestation de Yulia Matochkina dans le rôle de Kundry. Tantôt guerrière, séductrice ou mystique, le timbre est rond, l’émission puissante sans vibrato, les aigus dardés, les graves abyssaux.
- Patrice Imbaud , ResMusica
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Salzburg Festival - Verdi - Luisa Miller - Federica
Von edlem Glanz und gesanglichem Adel war Yulia Matochkinas Federica, die Herzogin von Ostheim
- Stefan Ender , Der Standard
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Yulia Matochkina als Gräfin Frederica ließ mit einer wunderbaren Mezzostimme aufhorchen.
- Marco Stücklin , Das Opernmagazin
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Yulia Matochkina’s imposing Frederica brought the ideal mélange of metal and velvet in her timbre, authentically Italianate in style, and in fact slightly reminiscent of the young Fiorenza Cossotto - which is a compliment indeed.
- Moore Parker , The Opera Critic
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