Podleś Ewa, contralto (Biographical Profile, 23.02.2022) O: opera singer, contralto

 

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