Born in the historic Russian town of Vladimir, Yuliana’s love of music and talent for singing became apparent very early in her life. By the time she was eight, she was performing in Moscow with a major orchestra under the direction of Felix Aranovskiy, an “Honored Artist of the Russian Federation.” Her repertoire included challenging songs by, for example, the jazz icon, Charlie Parker, in place of traditional children’s songs.
Yuliana’s dream of becoming a professional singer got a major boost when in 2000, just before her 12th birthday, she won first prize in a nationally televised talent competition called “Morning Star.”
This was followed by Yuliana’s participation in a total of 14 national and international competitions, all of which she won – before she had finished her secondary (high school) education.
In 2002 Yuliana received special permission – she was just 14 – to enroll in the Variety and Jazz College in Moscow. This is roughly the equivalent of an American junior college, and, at that time, it was the only school in Russia where she could seriously pursue training as a jazz vocalist.
The year before, while she was still studying in Vladimir, Yuliana performed at an American Home 4th of July celebration. This unique private organization was established in Vladimir at the initiative of Dr. Ron Pope, a professor of Russian politics at Illinois State University which is located in one of Vladimir’s American Sister Cities, Bloomington-Normal, Illinois. Yuliana and her parents hoped that through the American Home arrangements could be made for her to study in the U.S., the homeland of jazz.
With significant help from Dr. Katherine (Katchie) Cartwright, a noted jazz performer and music educator and, at the time, Chair of the International Association for Jazz Education’s Sisters in Jazz mentoring program, Dr. Pope was ultimately able to arrange for Yuliana to attend the Stanford Jazz Workshop in California in 2004 and 2005. There she studied with another highly respected jazz artist and educator, Dena DeRose. (On both trips to the States she also studied informally with Dr. Cartwright whose family warmly welcomed her into their home.)
The success of her performances during the first Workshop led to her being invited to be the featured performer on the youth stage at the San Jose Jazz Festival the following summer. Commenting on that performance in the San Jose Mercury News, Leigh Weimers, wrote that Yuliana’s performance at the Festival made “all feel confident about the worldwide future of jazz.”
After completing her studies at the Moscow Variety and Jazz College in 2006, Yuliana was accepted as a student and given a full scholarship by Moscow’s very prestigious Gnesin Academy of Music – the Russian equivalent of America’s Juilliard.
In addition to the American vocal jazz educators Yuliana has had the opportunity to work with, a number of talented Russian professors have played major roles in helping her develop her talent. These have included Anatoliy Kroll, Tatiana Savostyanova, Vladimir Khchaturov, Vladimir Rosanov, Irina Otieva, Raisa Spaharyan, and Petr Petrukhin.
Yuliana completed her studies at the Gnesin Academy in June 2011, graduating with highest honors.
The summer before she graduated from Gnesin, Yuliana was one of the 75 entrants from 25 different countries who participated in the vocal jazz competition at the very prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The distinguished panel of judges, chaired by the internationally renowned Quincy Jones, selected her as one of the three finalists. She was awarded second place by the panel – while the audience voted her their favorite performer! This was quite an achievement for the youngest entrant in the competition!
While studying at Gnesin, Yuliana became the lead vocalist for the school’s “Academic Band” under the direction of Anatoliy Kroll, “People’s Artist of Russia.”
During the period that ended with her graduation from the Gnesin Academy, on her home front Yuliana received a “Young Performer Encouragement Award” in 2008, won the “Fascinated by Jazz 2009” competition in Moscow, and was given an entry in the 2010 edition of the Young Talent – Future of Russia encyclopedia. In 2011 the Gnesin Academy of Music sponsored its first International Jazz Concert – with Yuliana as one of the featured performers. (Jazz training now plays a more prominent role in the Academy’s curriculum.)
Since finishing her formal education, Yuliana has performed widely throughout Russia, the former Soviet Union, and abroad, often with her own “family” combo made up of her husband, Alexey Chernakov on keyboard; Alexey’s sister, Daria Sokolova, on the double-bass; and Daria’s husband, Roman Sokolov, on the saxophone; along with the only non-family member, Alexander Kul’kov, on drums.
In 2012, this group recorded Yuliana’s first “video clip” under the direction of Oleg Zhdanov.
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