Born and raised in Russia, Lydia originally made her stand in the U.S. music scene as a lead vocalist and keyboard player for the GRAMMY-nominated band Bering Strait, which released 2 albums on Universal South Records and was featured in a “60 Minutes” episode, as well as a full-length documentary, “The Ballad Of Bering Strait”. The band toured throughout the U.S., sharing the stage with such artists as Trisha Yearwood, Diamond Rio, Steve Azar, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Collin Raye, Wynonna, Phil Vassar, B-52s, Ricky Skaggs, Kenny Rogers, Kathy Mattea and Bela Fleck. Being both a skilled singer and a classically trained pianist, Lydia also generously lent her musical talents to other acts, in the studio and on the road; the most notable contributions were her appearances on “We Are The Same” by Kenny Rogers and on “Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross” by Sir Christopher Lee. While having developed an appreciation and love for both classical and country music, Lydia eventually found that when it came down to just her and her piano and her writing, she was tapping into quite a different musical place, its flavor being soulful, emotional and highly introspective. She was compelled to leave Bering Strait in 2006 to start searching for her own voice, not that of a singer or a player in a band but that of a solo artist. Between experimenting in the studio and playing live in a trio setting, she began finding it. Since leaving Bering Strait, Lydia has released 2 full-length solo albums: “Hallway” (2010) and “Valentine Circle” (2013), both self-produced and recorded in her home studio. One of the songs from “Hallway” scored her a nomination for a 2011 Hollywood Music in Media Award, and her album “Valentine Circle” was covered in M Music & Musicians magazine. Lydia’s most recent offering, a concept EP titled “New Heart”, inspired by and dedicated to the wonder of pregnancy and new parenthood, was released in November 2014. Also in the last few years, Lydia has had the honor of performing for NASA at Space Center Houston, where she was overjoyed to discover that some of her music had already been played in space!