3 minute read
The voice
Julia Bleichert:
TRIPLE THREAT
BY WYATT TREMBLAY | PHOTO BY KRISTY REIMER
Julia Bleichert, 19, is a graduate of W.H. Croxford High School, but she’s not wondering what to do with the rest of her life. Bleichert has been charting a career in dance, acting and singing from the age of three.
“I like not being just one thing, but a whole bunch of things,” says Bleichert, who lives in Airdrie with her parents and four sisters.
While she was confident as a dancer, she was originally timid about singing publicly.
“I would sing in my garage after school, and just let it all out. That was my way of doing it since I was so shy.”
Bleichert overcame this fear while attending the StoryBook Theatre program in Calgary, where she landed a lead role in a musical, which boosted her confidence. “Something in me just grew, and I knew I could do this.”
She continued developing her dance skills at the Alberta Ballet School but transferred to Croxford in Grade 10 to focus on singing and acting.
“I wanted to be more versatile,” she says. “I don’t like being labelled just a dancer, or a singer, or an actor; I like being a triple threat.”
Inspired by the likes of Lady Gaga, Pink, and “anything Broadway,” Bleichert saw the future as hers to seize. She trained with the Stampede’s Young Canadians during Grade 12, and the year after graduation began auditioning for musical theatre roles on cruise ship lines. She had made it through call-back rounds and was feeling excited, when suddenly, “It was COVID, COVID, COVID.”
The pandemic shut down live venues, and Bleichert hit the pause button on her dreams. “As an artist I felt really drained. I couldn’t audition, I couldn’t do anything.”
In 2020, she found part-time work at a dance studio in Calgary, where she met Eugenio Hipolito, a local producer, dancer, videographer and singer. After hearing her vocals, Hipolito approached Bleichert about working together to record covers they could post to YouTube.
The chance to work again, and with a seasoned artist like Hipolito, gave her hope, she says. However, due to the pandemic, they could not physically record their first project together. Instead, they filmed their parts separately, and Hipolito pieced it together in postproduction. The result is a version of Oh Come All Ye Faithful that is fitting to the times; a duet presented through two cell phone screens, side by side.
Since then, they have produced several cover songs, mostly ballads, earning them tens of thousands of views on YouTube. Hipolito arranges the music and plays all the instruments.
Their duets are interesting visually, musically and vocally. With clear storytelling, skillful arrangements, and the exquisite quality of their two voices, Bleichert a mezzo soprano and Hipolito a tenor, they are a talent worth paying attention to.
Their cover of British singer Calum Scott’s agonizingly beautiful hit You Are The Reason showcases their talent. Filmed on a dark stage with Hipolito’s reverent arrangement of Scott’s music, they present a version of this mega-hit that holds its own against the original.
In true Bleichert style, though, there’s more to come. “We started doing covers to build an audience, but now we’re writing our own stuff, and we’re going to add dance; that’s really exciting.”
Bleichert’s plans may have been interrupted by COVID, but the future is still hers.
“Just being able to do what I love – singing, acting, dancing – as long as I’m in that realm, I’ll be happy.” life
