A dedicated interpreter of unusual repertoire, soprano Yulia Van Doren has cultivated a unique career as one of the foremost concert singers of her generation. Recognized for her work in Baroque repertoire, she has been presented as a guest artist by a majority of the premier North American orchestras and festivals, has the distinction of being the only contestant awarded top prizes in all the U.S. Bach vocal competitions and is featured on two Grammy Award-nominated opera recordings with the Boston Early Music Festival.
In addition, she has had leading roles in a variety of diverse repertoire, including the world premiere of Shostakovich’s Orango with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, directed by Peter Sellars and released on Deutsche Grammophon; the modern revival of Monsigny’s Le roi et le fermier at Opera de Versailles, the Kennedy Center in Washington (D.C.) and Lincoln Center in New York; concerts of works by Monteverdi in Venice with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and Alessandro Scarlatti’s rarely performed opera Tigrane at Opera de Nice.
Other career highlights include Handel’s Acis and Galatea with the Radio Kamer Filharmonie at the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam and with Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin in Macau, marking the first performance of an opera by Handel in the Chinese region; eclectic 12th-century repertoire as featured soprano of the 2013 Ojai Music Festival; several world premieres at Carnegie Hall, and nationally televised performances at the Cartagena International Music Festival with soprano Dawn Upshaw, a cherished career mentor. Van Doren made her European debut the historically notable Hungarian premiere of Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Passionate about cross-arts collaboration, she has been the main soprano soloist for renowned choreographer Mark Morris since 2007, singing many national and international performances with his company. In 2019, she became the first opera singer to perform at the Essaouira World Music Festival, one of Africa’s largest, in a guest appearance with Moroccan Gnawa superstar Hassan Hakmoun.
Born in Moscow, Yulia Van Doren was raised in the United States in a music-filled household in which she and her seven younger siblings were taught by their Russian mezzo-soprano mother and American jazz-pianist father. After spending her high school years working full time in professional musical theater, she switched her focus to classical singing and attended the New England Conservatory. Her graduate degree from Bard College Conservatory was generously supported by a Soros Fellowship and postgraduate study in Paris by a Beebe Fellowship, and she is an Astral Artist Laureate.
She also is the founder of a holistic wellness brand that is an innovator in its genre and author of two books that are award-winning international best-sellers, with over 250,000 copies sold in eight translations. Her third book will be published this October. She is currently developing a project related to the intersection of music, science and holistic healing.
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
