Training and awards

Leschnikoff’s early musical life was shaped by private study. At fifteen, she was awarded a scholarship by the Wolfson Foundation to study piano and singing at Junior Guildhall in London. She later continued on a highly coveted full-time scholarship at the School, taking voice as her principal study with the late Johanna Peters, and piano with John York.

During this time, she reached the finals of the International Young Singer of the Year at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod (Wales), and graduated with a First Class Honours Bachelor of Music.

Postgraduate study and mentors

Generously assisted by the Guildhall School Trust and the Boris Karloff Charitable Foundation, Jessica went on to complete a Master’s in Music with David Pollard, graduating with Distinction.

Previous professors include Ian Kennedy, Adrian Thompson, and Susan McCulloch. Jessica’s coaches include Martin Katz, Paul Hamburger, Lada Valešová, Nigel Foster, Graham Johnson, and Michael Pugh. Jessica currently studies with Raymond Connell in London.

Repertoire and musical interests

Through playing chamber music as a young pianist, Jessica developed a natural understanding and keen insight for song repertoire, not least through a mutual respect and appreciation for the work of pianists in this field.

She has built a wide-ranging art song and oratorio repertoire, working in German, French, Russian, Czech, Finnish, Swedish, and Hungarian, and spanning composers from the Baroque to the contemporary 21st century. Jessica is particularly fond of Debussy, Fauré, Berg, and Richard Strauss.

She has also always sung jazz, having grown up with the soigné, urbane style and romance of Kurt Weill, Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Bernstein, as well as performances by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Chet Baker, Billie Holiday, and Stéphane Grappelli.

Family archive and Bulgarian work

Jessica is the granddaughter of Bulgaria’s world-famous tenor Ari Leshnikov, the first tenor of the Comedian Harmonists. With Bulgarian academics now researching both his German and Bulgarian years, it has been discovered that Mr Leshnikov recorded a prodigious Bulgarian solo archive of over 100 songs, which is only now being carefully documented and restored.

On a recent visit to Bulgaria, the first by her family since 1946, Jessica was invited to perform at a festival in Haskovo, the city of her grandfather’s early childhood. Three of Leshnikov’s songs were arranged by Rumen Boyadzhiev and performed specially by Jessica and fellow musician friends: Atanas Krastev (cello), Gocho Prakov (clarinet), and Viktoria Vassilenko (piano).