Julia Severus

Coming from a family with an artistic background, Julia Severus graduated from the Berlin University of Arts and from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where she studied piano with Mikhail Voskresensky and Lev Naumov. Interested in questions of transversality of historic articulation practice, she wrote her dissertation at the Technische Universität Berlin on J.S. Bach’s Articulation Practice and Possibilities of Its Application in His Piano Works, with publications in Die Musikforschung and Concerto – Das Magazin für Alte Musik.

Wishing to explore piano ensemble repertoire, she founded the Aurora Duo and Quartet, performing numerous premières and world premières, among them Rodion Shchedrin’s Hommage à Chopin in the presence of the composer, followed by recordings for two pianos, eight hands, of Russian Romantic Piano Transcriptions (Naxos 8.557717) and Mare – Works for 4 Pianists by Norwegian contemporary composers. With her colleague Alina Luschtschizkaja, Julia Severus made the first recording of the complete Tchaikovsky ballet suites (Naxos 8.570418). Her solo recordings of Rachmaninov’s piano transcriptions (Naxos 8.573468), Franck’s early piano works (Naxos 8.572901), Tchaikovsky’s opera and song transcriptions (Grand Piano GP795) and Bizet’s complete piano works (Naxos 8.570831–32) have been highly praised. The latter, presented on Carrefour de Lodéon and Les Stars du Classique in France, was awarded Album of the Week by RBB in Germany and acclaimed by The Guardian. Her search for undiscovered piano literature led her on the trail of the Russian composer and pianist Adolf Barjansky, whose complete works for solo piano she has recorded (Grand Piano GP796 and GP881).