Yulia Matochkina was born in the town of Mirny (Arkhangelsk Region). Graduated from the Petrozavodsk State Glazunov Conservatoire (class of Professor Viktoria Gladchenko). Her operatic career has been constantly linked with the Mariinsky Theatre where she began as a student of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Opera Singers (2009–2015) before becoming a lead soloist with the opera company proper (since 2015). The artist made her Mariinsky Theatre debut in Die Zauberflöte in 2009.
Yulia gained an international recognition after winning the Tchaikovsky Competition in 2015. She performed major parts at the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia (where she made her first appearance in 2018, portraying Carmen), the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Los Angeles Opera, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the festivals in Edinburgh, Verbier, Baden-Baden, the BBC Proms in London, Gergiev’s festivals in Mikkeli (Finland) and Rotterdam, the Festival Berlioz in La Côte-Saint-André (France). In the summer of 2019 Yulia made her debut at the Salzburg Festival, where she sang the role of Federica in a concert performance of Verdi’s Luisa Miller.
In the 2021–22 season the artist made her first appearance at the Opéra national de Paris (Marfa in Khovanshchina), the Metropolitan Opera (Maddalena in Rigoletto), the Teatro alla Scala (Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera) and the Arena di Verona Opera Festival (title part in Carmen; Verdi Opera Night with Plácido Domingo), as well as she portrayed Ulrica in Chicago’s concert performance of Un ballo in maschera conducted by Riccardo Muti and sang at the Staatsoper Hamburg (Federica in Luisa Miller), the Deutsche Oper Berlin (Princess Eboli in Don Carlo) and in Utrecht (Verdi’s Requiem). The 2022–23 season saw the singer’s debut as Azucena (Il trovatore) at the Opernhaus Zürich.
