Aleksandra Kurzak
Polish-born soprano Aleksandra Kurzak began her musical education at the age of 7, playing violin and piano. She studied voice at the conservatories of Wroclaw and Hamburg. She made her professional opera debut at the age of 21 at the Wroclaw State Opera as Susanna in »Le nozze di Figaro«. Kurzak is a laureate of singing competitions in Warsaw, Barcelona, Helsinki and Canton. In 2009 she received a PhD in Music. Between 2001 and 2007 Kurzak was a member of the ensemble of the Hamburg State Opera, where she sang numerous roles: Queen of the Night (»The Magic Flute«), Blonde (»Die Entführungs aus dem Serail«), Susanna, Servilia (»La clemenza di Tito«), Marzelline (»Fidelio«), Nannetta (»Falstaff«), Ännchen (»Der Freischütz«), Gilda (»Rigoletto«), Gretel (»Hänsel und Gretel«), Maid (»Powder her Face«), Musetta (»La Bohème«), Cleopatra, Fiorilla (»Il turco in Italia«), Marie (»La Fille du régiment«). She recently made her return as Desdemona in »Otello«. In 2004 Kurzak made her debut at The Metropolitan Opera in the role of Olympia in »Les Contes d’Hoffmann«. In the same season she debuted at the Royal Opera House-Covent Garden as Aspasia in »Mitridate, Re di Ponto«. The artist returned to the Met, singing Blonde, Gilda, Gretel, Adina (»L'elisir d'amore«), Nedda (»Pagliacci«), Micaëla (»Carmen«) and Violetta (»La traviata«). Since her first London appearance, Kurzak has returned regularly to the Royal Opera House, where she has performed roles of Norina (»Don Pasquale«), Adina, Susanna, Matilde (»Matilde di Shabran«), achieving a real triumph on this stage and most recently as Fiorilla, Rosina (»Il barbiere di Siviglia«), Gilda, Lucia di Lammermoor, Liù (»Turandot«) and Violetta. In February 2010 Kurzak made her debut at the Teatro alla Scala in the role of Gilda and returned as Susanna and Adele in »Le Comte Ory«. Kurzak has appeared as well at the Staatsoper in Berlin (Queen of the Night, Mimì in »La Bohème«), Teatro Regio in Parma and Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse (Gilda), Bavarian State Opera in Munich (Cleopatra, Adele, Rosina, Fiorilla, Adina, Rachel in »La Juive«), Vienna State Opera (Rosina, Adina, Susanna, Marie, Gilda, Violetta, Desdemona, Liù), Teatro Regio in Torino (Violetta), Teatro Massimo in Palermo (Norina), Teatro Massimo di Bellini in Catania (concert with arias by Bellini), Teatro Real in Madrid (Susanna, Marie), Lyric Opera House in Chicago (Blonde), Salzburg Festival (concert arias by Mozart, Ännchen and Donna Anna), Arena di Verona (Rosina, Juliette, Gilda, Violetta, Verdi-Gala), Los Angeles Opera (Fiordiligi in »Così fan tutte«), San Francisco Opera (Gilda), Palau de les Arts in Valencia (Adina), Gran Teatre del Liceu (Adina, Nedda), Mozart Festival in La Coruña as well as at the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff (Aspasia), Theater an der Wien (Donna Anna and Amenaide), Finnish National Opera (Gilda), National Opera in Warsaw (Gilda, Violetta, Lucia), Teatro La Fenice (Donna Anna), Opernhaus in Zürich (Gilda, Norina, Nedda), Deutsche Oper Berlin (Violetta, Adina, Nedda), Opéra de Paris (Adina, Micaëla, Alice Ford in »Falstaff«, Vitellia in »La clemenza di Tito«, Violetta, Desdemona, Elisabetta in »Don Carlo«), Seattle Opera (Lucia), Opéra de Monte-Carlo (Luisa Miller). Kurzak has collaborated with many well known conductors including Marco Armiliato, Maurizio Benini, Ivor Bolton, Bruno Campanella, James Conlon, Sir Andrew Davis, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Riccardo Frizza, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, René Jacobs, Fabio Luisi, Nicola Luisotti, Sir Charles Mackerras, Ingo Metzmacher, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Daniel Oren, Antonio Pappano, Carlo Rizzi. Aleksandra Kurzak has an exclusive recording contract with Sony Classical. She was an exclusive recording artist for Decca 2010–16 and she has also recorded for Deutsche Grammophon and Warner.