Yulia Pavlishcheva is a Madrid-based lyric coloratura soprano specialising in bel canto. Her repertoire encompasses Mozart and Italian, French and Russian opera.
Musical education
Born in Taganrog, she began studying music at the age of four. Her mother is a professional pianist and choral singer, and classical music and jazz were part of everyday life at home. Yulia later continued her musical education in Saint Petersburg.
This musical upbringing developed her ear, sense of rhythm and artistic judgement. Her grandparents, Valentina and Vladimir Grachev, both Merited Sculptors of the Soviet Union, represented a tradition of fine craftsmanship and exacting aesthetic standards. Her grandfather was a close friend of Elena Obraztsova and a direct descendant of the Grachev dynasty of Saint Petersburg jewellers, official suppliers to the royal courts of Denmark and Sweden and to the Russian Empire.
She began winning prizes in competitions early in her musical studies.
From 2015 to 2023, she studied at the Saint Petersburg State Conservatory with Professor Larisa Andreevna Shevchenko. Since 2023, she has continued her vocal studies privately with pianist and vocal coach Dale Fundling.
Shevchenko’s artistic vision played a decisive part in Yulia’s development as a performer. Already an established singer, Shevchenko chose to rebuild her technique around the Italian bel canto tradition, reworking her breathing technique, the balance between vocal registers and her approach to the sung text. Her career is often cited as a rare example of artistic courage. She instilled this discipline and stylistic rigour in her students while encouraging their interpretative freedom.
Her work with Fundling remains central to her artistic development. An outstanding vocal coach and pianist widely recognised for his knowledge of vocal styles and the depth of his musicianship, he has taught the world-renowned mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča and tenor Piotr Beczała. Their careers exemplify the highest international standards of technique, style and musical intelligence.
Opera and concerts
In 2019, she sang the Woman in Poulenc’s La voix humaine in Saint Petersburg. She performed Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at the Tauride Palace in 2020 and Violetta Valéry in Verdi’s La traviata at the Saint Petersburg Musical Comedy Theatre in 2021.
At the Vienna Opera Festival in 2023, she sang the Sandman and the Dew Fairy in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel at the Musikverein. Her concert engagements that year included the festival’s programme at the Mozarthaus and a collaboration with conductor Toby Purser at the Musikverein. In 2024, she performed with Compañía de Ópera de Madrid in Alicante.
Between 2015 and 2023, she appeared with the Silver Strings orchestra under Alexander Afanasyev. In 2017 and 2018, she also took part in private concerts with soloists of the Mariinsky Theatre. Her performance experience includes opera and theatre productions, solo recitals, and concerts with symphony orchestras and orchestras of traditional instruments.
Competitions
In 2018, she won the Jean Sibelius Opera Competition in Turku, Finland. That year, she also won The Star Rhapsody International Vocal Competition, The Great Silk Road International Competition and Saint Petersburg in the Mirror of World Music Culture, all held in Saint Petersburg. In 2020, she was a finalist in the International B. T. Shtokolov Vocal Competition in Saint Petersburg.
These distinctions reflect the strength of her training, the clarity of her artistic direction and her sustained professional commitment to developing an operatic career.
Languages
Yulia speaks Russian, English, Spanish, German and Italian.
Artistic approach
Her interpretation of bel canto, Mozart, French repertoire and Russian opera is guided by stylistic authenticity, a clear, expressive musical line and emotional truth on stage. She brings these principles to both opera and concert performance. Alongside her operatic work, her experience includes theatre productions, numerous solo concerts and ensemble programmes, with both symphony orchestras and ensembles playing traditional folk instruments.