Julia Lezhneva - Vogler: DER KAUFMANN VON SMYRNA, O welch Enzücken (for Aloysia Weber), 2022

THE SONGBIRD: Julia Lezhneva (Юлия Лежнева) was born in 1989 in Russia. She studied at music schools and privately with Irina Zhurina, Elena Obraztsova, and Yvonne Kenny among many others and became a protege of Kiri Te Kanawa. Lezhneva specializes in florid baroque and classical-era material, but also sings Rossini, Meyerbeer, and Russian composers. Lezhneva has made several recital recordings and appeared to critical acclaim in Salzburg, Paris, London, Brussels, New York, Vienna, and Amsterdam. THE MUSIC: Georg Joseph Vogler (aka Abbé Vogler) was a musician, composer, and influential music theorist and teacher. He was a prominent contemporary of Mozart, who felt Vogler was an eccentric who lacked talent, and condemned his new harpsichord fingering method as “miserable.“ You can read more of Mozart’s complaints about Vogler here; Vogler’s first success as a composer came in 1771 with the singspeil “Der Kaufmann