Vita
Yulia Deyneka, first principal viola of the Staatskapelle Berlin since 2005, is also a versatile chamber musician and a professor of viola at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin. As a soloist, she appears regularly with various orchestras. She is a founding member of the String Quartet of the Staatskapelle Berlin and a member of the Boulez Ensemble.
Yulia Deyneka was born on the Russian island of Sakhalin in 1982 and grew up in Moscow. At the age of seven, she began taking violin lessons at the Gnessin Music School in Moscow, then at the Special Music School of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. There, in the class of Maria Sitkovskaya – herself a student of the legendary violists Vadim Borisovsky and Fedor Drushinin – she became fascinated by the viola’s sound; as a 14-year-old, she switched to the viola for good. She then studied with Alexander Bobrovsky at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and simultaneously with Felix Schwarz at the Rostock Academy of Music for a diploma. She passed her concert examination after studying with Wilfried Strehle at the Berlin University of the Arts.
Even while still a member of the Staatskapelle Berlin’s orchestra academy, Daniel Barenboim became her most important musical mentor, a relationship reflected in joint chamber music performances and recordings as well as world premieres, for example that of Aribert Reimann’s Trio for countertenor, viola and piano (2018). For many years, she was a member of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, participating in the historical performance in Ramallah in 2005.
Yulia Deyneka has also performed with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta and Sir Simon Rattle; she received major musical impulses from collaboration with artists such as Martha Argerich, Yo-Yo Ma, Gidon Kremer, Maurizio Pollini, Radu Lupu, Yefim Bronfman and Jörg Widmann. Yulia Deyneka performed as a soloist under the baton of Daniel Barenboim at Carnegie Hall in New York and at the Philharmonie de Paris with the Staatskapelle Berlin (Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante); she also played Don Quixote with Misha Maisky with the Orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin under the baton of Massimo Zanetti. Under Andris Nelsons’ baton, she performed Schnittke’s Concerto for Viola. In 2022, she gave the world premiere of Peter Eötvös’ piece Respond for solo viola and orchestra with the Staatskapelle Berlin under James Gaffigan at the Pierre Boulez Saal. There, she also gave world premieres of works by Matthias Pintscher and Olga Neuwirth during the 2020 pandemic, which were broadcast digitally.
With the String Quartet of the Staatskapelle Berlin, she performed a Schubert cycle at the Pierre Boulez Saal in 2017/18, including all of Schubert’s string quartets as well as the quintets with outstanding guest artists such as the cellist Frans Helmerson and the soprano Christiane Karg. During the 2018/19 season, she presented a Brahms cycle with the String Quartet of the Staatskapelle Berlin and the pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja at the Pierre Boulez Saal and at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, featuring all the composer’s string quartets, the piano quartet and piano quintet. In 2023, a Janáček cycle followed, which also featured the actor Udo Samel. In 2019, she appeared at the Mozartwoche in Salzburg, playing Mozart’s two piano quartets with Michael Barenboim, Kian Soltani and Daniel Barenboim as well as the “Kegelstatt Trio” with Daniel Ottensamer. In 2023, she returned to the Mozartwoche with Elena Bashkirova.
Since the opening of the Pierre Boulez Saal, Yulia Deyneka has played regularly with the Boulez Ensemble, which is dedicated particularly to contemporary music. As its member, she has played some of the most important pieces by Pierre Boulez, such as Le Marteau sans maître under the baton of François-Xavier Roth and Derive II under Daneil Barenboim’s baton in Berlin, New York and Pairs. During the 2019/20 season, she played Messagesquisse in the arrangement for solo viola and six violas as well as Éclat / Multiples under the baton of François-Xavier Roth. Luca Francesconi dedicated a viola concerto to Yulia Deyneka and Daniel Barenboim, but it has remained unperformed due to the latter’s state of health.
Yulia Deyneka’s recordings can be heard regularly via radio broadcasts and streaming. Together with François-Xavier Roth and the Boulez Ensemble, she recorded the viola arrangement of Boulez’ Messagesquisse (Peral). Three Character Pieces by David R. Coleman, which the composer wrote especially for Yulia Deyneka, were released by NAXOS, and Mozart’s two piano quartets on Deutsche Grammophon. Together with the mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená and Sir Simon Rattle at the piano, she recorded the album Soirée for Pentatone in 2019. In 2022, Linn released a CD of the String Quartet of the Staatskapelle Berlin featuring quartets by Verdi, Puccini and Tchaikovsky.
Yulia Deyneka is also a committed teacher: immediately after completing her studies, she taught at the Rostock Music Academy for a year, and from 2006 to 2011 she taught at the music academy of the Barenboim-Said Foundation in Seville. Since 2016 she has been teaching viola at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin, where she was appointed professor of viola in 2019. At the Staatskapelle Berlin, she mentors the members of the orchestra academy.
Vita
Yulia Deyneka, first principal viola of the Staatskapelle Berlin since 2005, is also a versatile chamber musician and a professor of viola at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin. As a soloist, she appears regularly with various orchestras. She is a founding member of the String Quartet of the Staatskapelle Berlin and a member of the Boulez Ensemble.
Yulia Deyneka was born on the Russian island of Sakhalin in 1982 and grew up in Moscow. At the age of seven, she began taking violin lessons at the Gnessin Music School in Moscow, then at the Special Music School of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. There, in the class of Maria Sitkovskaya – herself a student of the legendary violists Vadim Borisovsky and Fedor Drushinin – she became fascinated by the viola’s sound; as a 14-year-old, she switched to the viola for good. She then studied with Alexander Bobrovsky at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and simultaneously with Felix Schwarz at the Rostock Academy of Music for a diploma. She passed her concert examination after studying with Wilfried Strehle at the Berlin University of the Arts.
Even while still a member of the Staatskapelle Berlin’s orchestra academy, Daniel Barenboim became her most important musical mentor, a relationship reflected in joint chamber music performances and recordings as well as world premieres, for example that of Aribert Reimann’s Trio for countertenor, viola and piano (2018). For many years, she was a member of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, participating in the historical performance in Ramallah in 2005.
Yulia Deyneka has also performed with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta and Sir Simon Rattle; she received major musical impulses from collaboration with artists such as Martha Argerich, Yo-Yo Ma, Gidon Kremer, Maurizio Pollini, Radu Lupu, Yefim Bronfman and Jörg Widmann. Yulia Deyneka performed as a soloist under the baton of Daniel Barenboim at Carnegie Hall in New York and at the Philharmonie de Paris with the Staatskapelle Berlin (Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante); she also played Don Quixote with Misha Maisky with the Orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin under the baton of Massimo Zanetti. Under Andris Nelsons’ baton, she performed Schnittke’s Concerto for Viola. In 2022, she gave the world premiere of Peter Eötvös’ piece Respond for solo viola and orchestra with the Staatskapelle Berlin under James Gaffigan at the Pierre Boulez Saal. There, she also gave world premieres of works by Matthias Pintscher and Olga Neuwirth during the 2020 pandemic, which were broadcast digitally.
With the String Quartet of the Staatskapelle Berlin, she performed a Schubert cycle at the Pierre Boulez Saal in 2017/18, including all of Schubert’s string quartets as well as the quintets with outstanding guest artists such as the cellist Frans Helmerson and the soprano Christiane Karg. During the 2018/19 season, she presented a Brahms cycle with the String Quartet of the Staatskapelle Berlin and the pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja at the Pierre Boulez Saal and at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, featuring all the composer’s string quartets, the piano quartet and piano quintet. In 2023, a Janáček cycle followed, which also featured the actor Udo Samel. In 2019, she appeared at the Mozartwoche in Salzburg, playing Mozart’s two piano quartets with Michael Barenboim, Kian Soltani and Daniel Barenboim as well as the “Kegelstatt Trio” with Daniel Ottensamer. In 2023, she returned to the Mozartwoche with Elena Bashkirova.
Since the opening of the Pierre Boulez Saal, Yulia Deyneka has played regularly with the Boulez Ensemble, which is dedicated particularly to contemporary music. As its member, she has played some of the most important pieces by Pierre Boulez, such as Le Marteau sans maître under the baton of François-Xavier Roth and Derive II under Daneil Barenboim’s baton in Berlin, New York and Pairs. During the 2019/20 season, she played Messagesquisse in the arrangement for solo viola and six violas as well as Éclat / Multiples under the baton of François-Xavier Roth. Luca Francesconi dedicated a viola concerto to Yulia Deyneka and Daniel Barenboim, but it has remained unperformed due to the latter’s state of health.
Yulia Deyneka’s recordings can be heard regularly via radio broadcasts and streaming. Together with François-Xavier Roth and the Boulez Ensemble, she recorded the viola arrangement of Boulez’ Messagesquisse (Peral). Three Character Pieces by David R. Coleman, which the composer wrote especially for Yulia Deyneka, were released by NAXOS, and Mozart’s two piano quartets on Deutsche Grammophon. Together with the mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená and Sir Simon Rattle at the piano, she recorded the album Soirée for Pentatone in 2019. In 2022, Linn released a CD of the String Quartet of the Staatskapelle Berlin featuring quartets by Verdi, Puccini and Tchaikovsky.
Yulia Deyneka is also a committed teacher: immediately after completing her studies, she taught at the Rostock Music Academy for a year, and from 2006 to 2011 she taught at the music academy of the Barenboim-Said Foundation in Seville. Since 2016 she has been teaching viola at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin, where she was appointed professor of viola in 2019. At the Staatskapelle Berlin, she mentors the members of the orchestra academy.