Podleś Ewa, contralto
(Biographical Profile, 23.02.2022)
O: opera singer, contralto;
B:
Warsaw, 26.04.1952;
P:
Walery, Teresa Podleś - opera singer;
MS: Jerzy Marchwiński, pianist, full
professor, founder of the Head of the Department of Piano Chamber Music at the
Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and its head for many years, her
life and professional partner, joint concerts across the world, numerous
recordings;
Ch:
Ewa Maria; grandchildren: Zofia, Mateusz;
E: 1968 - 1972 Klementyna Hoffmanowa
Lyceum No. 9 in Warsaw; 1972 -1978 The Music College in Warsaw (now the
Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw),
vocal class under the direction of Alina Bolechowska;
Ca: for many years a soloist of the
Grand Theatre - National Opera in Warsaw;
WaCW: 1976, debut in the Grand Theatre -
National Opera as Rosina in The Barber of Seville by G. Rossini. As an
opera singer with extraordinary vocal potential – a contralto covering over 3
octaves, she gave more than a thousand public appearances, ranging from smaller musical centers to the
most renowned festivals, opera stages and concert halls of the world, such as
the MET, La Scala, San Francisco Opera, Convent Garden, Châtelet, Deutsche Oper
Berlin, Teatro Liceo, Teatro Real, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, London's
Wigmore Hall, Théâtre des Champs Elysées and the National Philharmonic; Her
repertoire encompasses nearly one hundred opera and concert parts as well as
song cycles from the Baroque period to the present day; the characteristic
timbre of her voice and its enormous scale and fluency made her widely regarded
as the most authentic contralto of the generation (Opera International,
Orpheus, Gramophone, The New York Times, The San Francisco Examiner, The
Washington Post, Opera News, The Financial Times); a member of the jury at
the Stanislaw Moniuszko Vocal
Competition in Warsaw (2016, 2019, 2022) and the Bogdan Paprocki National Vocal
Competition in Bydgoszcz (2019); masterclasses at the Grand Theatre - National
Opera in Warsaw since 2015 and at music universities in Kraków, Katowice,
Szczecin and others; recorded over 50
CDs and the following DVDs: Gioconda by Ponchielli at Teatro Liceo in
Barcelona (La Cieca), Cendrillon
by Massenet at Covent Garden (Madame de la Haltière), The Queen of Spades
by Tchaikovsky at Teatro Liceo in Barcelona (The Countess), a recital of
Russian songs with Garrick Ohlsson in Warsaw; in 2013, a book by Brigitte Cormier
Ewa Podles. Contralto assoluto was published, featuring a biography of
the artist.
Aw: 1978, third prize at the Piotr Tchaikovsky
International Music Competition in
Moscow; 1979, first prize at the IX International Singing Competition in Rio de
Janeiro; 1979, third prize at the International Vocal Competition in Toulouse;
1981, the Giuletta Simionato
special award for the best
mezzo-soprano voice at the International Vocal Competition in Barcelona; 2003,
Polonia Restituta Commander's Cross; 2000 Andrzej Hiolski Award for the title
role in Rossini's opera Tancredi at the Grand Theatre in Warsaw; 2006, Gloria
Artis Gold Medal for services to culture; 2003, Golden Sceptre of the Foundation of Polish Culture for lifetime
achievement in the arts; 2002, Dora
Mavor Moore Award for the leading role in Handel's opera Julius Caesar in Toronto; 1997,
American Music Critics’ Award and Kosciusko Foundation Medal (2005) for
outstanding contributions to the propagation of Polish and American culture;
2006, Medal of Merit for the propagation of Russian culture awarded by the
President of Russia; 2013, Gold Medal of the Gran Teatre del Liceu Foundation
in Barcelona; Awards for her recordings include, among others, Diapason d'Or,
Orphée d'Or, Preis der Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik, Grand Prix de l'Académie
Française du Disque; she received several times the Fryderyk music award
in Poland; a group of international
music critics Classic FM Magazine ranked her among the 10 best mezzo-soprano
voices of the first decade of the 21st century, and a worldwide online survey
2010/2011 by Operaarts.com placed her among 100 opera legends of the last
half-century;
LS: Italian, English, French, Russian;
H: Gardening, flowers. In 2002, the
International Iris Breeders Association based in New York named a specially
bred variety of iris Ewa Podleś to honor her), pets;
PMM: 1979, first encounter with her
future husband during her performances at the International Vocal Competition
in Rio de Janeiro; 1978, third prize at the International Tchaikovsky Vocal
Competition in Moscow, Russia; 1984, debut at Metropolitan Opera in New York in
title role in G.F. Handel's Rinaldo, 1981, birth of a daughter; meeting and collaboration with conductor
Alberto Zedda, and -finally
- her well-deserved retirement;
RoS: I do not live to sing, I sing to
live;
Web: www.podles.pl;
www.nedzynski.com/ewapodles.htm
