Born in Russia in 1982, Yulia Deyneka studied with Alexander Bobrovsky at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in her hometown of Moscow. In 2001, she moved to Germany, where she graduated from the University of Music and Theatre Rostock under the guidance of Felix Schwartz. She then obtained a Soloist Diploma from the University of the Arts Berlin, studying with Wilfried Strehle. While still a student, she was appointed Principal Viola at the prestigious Staatskapelle Berlin.
As a soloist, Yulia has performed with renowned conductors such as Andris Nelsons, François-Xavier Roth, Zubin Mehta, and Daniel Barenboim, playing in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, and the Philharmonie in Berlin and Paris.
Chamber music holds a prominent place in Yulia Deyneka's life. She is a regular participant at numerous international festivals, including Rolandseck, Jerusalem, Annecy, and Mozartfest Salzburg. Her musical partners include Guy Braunstein, Daniel Ottensamer, Emmanuel Pahud, Julian Steckel, and Jörg Widmann.
Yulia Deyneka is a co-founder of the Staatskapelle Berlin String Quartet. For the opening of the Pierre Boulez Saal, the ensemble performed the complete string quartets of Schubert, and since then, it has appeared internationally alongside prominent artists such as Elisabeth Leonskaja, Frans Helmerson, and Christiane Karg.
Increasingly dedicated to contemporary music, Yulia Deyneka has been a member of the Boulez Ensemble since its founding. With the ensemble, she has premiered works by numerous living composers, including Aribert Reimann, Jörg Widmann, Olga Neuwirth, Johannes Borowski, and Matthias Pintscher.
Daniel Barenboim and Yulia Deyneka enjoy a longstanding chamber music partnership and also collaborate in the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Since 2003 she has led the orchestra’s viola section and has been very active in fostering young talent from the Middle East.
In the Staatskapelle Berlin, she also serves as a mentor to young violists in the orchestra's Academy.
Since 2016, she has been teaching at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin, where she became a Full Professor in 2019. Yulia Deyneka can be heard on the album Soirée (Pentatone), with Magdalena Kožená and Simon Rattle, and on the album of the complete piano quartets of Mozart (Deutsche Grammophon), alongside Michael Barenboim, Kian Soltani, and Daniel Barenboim.
