Born in Moscow, Russia as Yulia Ronskaya, at the age of 4, she already knew exactly what she wanted to be in the future: ballerina. Definitely a ballerina. Dividing her time between dance classes, ice skating lessons, piano practice, modeling her mother's dresses and jewelry in front of the mirror, and helping her father design airplane engines by drawing on his blueprints with colored pencils, she still found time in her busy schedule to learn a song or two and perform them at family gatherings accompanied by her grandmother, a professional singer and pianist. The stage for her rare vocal appearances, the chair to stand on, was usually provided by her grandfather, a soloist of Moscow State Operetta Theater. Later, when it was time to choose what to do with her life, she chose singing. Perhaps she just loved standing on that chair... 

   

     After receiving her Master's Degree in Vocal Performance from Moscow Gnesin Music Academy and only two years as a leading soprano with Moscow State Opera, she moved to the US and began performing under the stage name Veronica Bell honoring in part her God Mother, artistic director of Moscow State symphony orchestra Veronica Dudarova. Finding operatic repertoire somewhat limiting, she made a decision to focus on being a concert soloist which allowed her to venture off into different musical genres while always keeping her favorite operatic arias in repertoire. 

 

     Ms.Bell has performed as a soloist with numerous companies, choral, symphonic, and dance groups including Moscow State Symphony, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Slavianka Men's Chorus, Wondering Stars Musical Theater, Mimoda Jazzo Gruppa, San Francisco International Music Festival, and has an on-going collaboration with a Los Angeles based group Windsong Players Chamber Ensemble performing a wide variety of classical music ranging from Baroque to modern.

     

     Veronica was personally invited by Queen Sirikit of Thailand to perform concert series in Bangkok on the occasion of Her Majesty's 60th birthday; she also came back to Moscow numerous times to the packed concert halls for oratorio concerts with Moscow State Symphony and solo recitals. Veronica has toured the US, Europe, Russia, and South America. She recorded the main theme song for the motion picture Little Odessa starring Maximilian Shell and Vanessa Redgrave (soundtrack available on Polygram Records on Amazon).

 

     Following her passion for pushing the envelope and taking her art well outside its conventional scope, in 2013, Ms. Bell recorded a controversial cross-gender operatic album Les Frissons D'Amour, for which she received a Hollywood Music in Media Award as Best Female Vocalist and also, among fellow musicians, an unofficial title Antichrist of Opera. The album includes operatic arias and duets originally written for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, and baritone. It explores the concept of an androgynous nature of love that is not commonly accepted in the world of classical music. In 2016, Veronica received a silver medal at the Global Music Awards for the same album. Her performance at the Beverly Hills International Music Festival in June 2017 and July 2019 received raving reviews and was pronounced "the crown jewel of the festival" by the Los Angeles press.

 

     In 2018, Veronica recorded a composition by Norwegian composer Gisle Korgseth titled The Mountain Songs. This beautiful three-song cycle written to the lyrics by the composer himself is a dramatic musical exploration of the power of love and nature. It premiered with great success on Norwegian National radio in April of 2018 and is now available on Spotify.

     

     Veronica's classical crossover album Midnight Affairs was released on April 27, 2019. It is currently airing on over 50 radio stations in the US and Canada. To find out more, please click HERE. In 2022 and 2023, Veronica released two Holiday albums, The Soul of December, volumes 1 and 2, with her friend, saxophone-virtuoso Jacob Nachman, and her own Christmas album, Into the Wonderland. Her next record of operatic arias is coming up in February of 2025.

Veronica resides in Los Angeles and continues to perform in the US and internationally and coach voice students in her private studio.