Ewa Podleś

Ewa Podleś

Ewa Podleś (Polish pronunciation: [ˈɛva ˈpɔdlɛɕ]; born on April 26, 1952 in Warsaw) is an internationally celebrated Polish coloratura contralto with a very wide vocal range (from a low A2 up to soprano high D) and great vocal agility.

After studying at the Warsaw Academy of Music under Madame Bolechowska, Podleś made her stage debut as Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville in 1975. Podleś made her Metropolitan Opera debut on February 14, 1984, singing the title role in Handel's Rinaldo, but only for a few performances that year (from which only two were in the Met's House), and was notably absent from the Met for more than 24 years, since then pursuing her career elsewhere and performing regularly at all other major opera houses in Europe and America. In May 2003, she was in a car accident in Santa Fe, New Mexico and suffered a broken arm. Her return to the Met took place on September 24, 2008, when she sang the role of La Cieca in Ponchielli's La Gioconda.

Though known mainly for her Baroque works, Podleś's repertoire ranges from Handel's Giulio Cesare (Cesare) to songs by Shostakovich. Right at the center of her abilities, however, are the contralto roles (some of them "trouser" roles) of Rossini. She is also a specialist in Russian works. She has frequently been labeled a "force of nature."

Her recent performances include roles of La Cieca in La Gioconda, Bertarido in Handel's Rodelinda, the title role in Rossini's Tancredi, the title role in Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto, Isabella in Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri, Erda in Wagner's Ring Cycle at the Seattle Opera, and Klytämnestra in Richard Strauss's Elektra with the Canadian Opera Company. She was scheduled to appear as Azucena in Verdi's Il trovatore at the Atlanta Opera in March 2009, but apparently cancelled.

Ewa Podleś and her husband, the accomplished pianist Jerzy Marchwiński, live in Warsaw, Poland.

External links

• Ewa Podles' official site (in English and Polish)
• Recordings of Podles at Delos International
• TheOperaCritic.com singer's page
• Interview at MusicalCriticism.com
• Interview at Culture Kiosque
• The Elemental Power of Ewa Podles

Recordings

Audio CD

• Airs Célebres (Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell, Gluck, and Marcello)
• Chopin: Mélodies with Abdel Rahman "El Bacha"
• Chopin: Songs with Garrick Ohlsson
• de Falla: El Amor Brujo with Krzysztof Penderecki
• Duets (Mendelssohn, Brahms, Schumann) with Joanna Kozlowska and Jerzy Marchwinski (piano)
• Gluck: Armide as La Haine with Marc Minkowski
• Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice as Orfeo with Peter Maag
• Gluck: Orphée et Eurydice as Orphée with Patrick Preire
• Handel Arias from Rinaldo and Orlando with Constantin Orbelian
• Handel: Ariodante as Polinesso with Marc Minkowski
• Mahler: Symphony No.2: Resurrection with Jean-Claude Casadesus
• Mahler: Symphony No.3 with Antoni Wit
• Mozart: Requiem with Michel Corboz & L'Ensemble Vocal et Instrumental de Lausanne
• Offenbach: Orphée aux Enfers as L'Opinion publique
• Penderecki: Seven Gates of Jerusalem with Kazimierz Kord
• Penderecki: Te Deum and Lacrimosa
• Ewa Podles & Garrick Ohlsson Live
• Ptaszynska: Concerto for Marimba; Songs of Despair and Loneliness
• Prokofiev: Alexandr Nevsky with JC Casadesus
• Puccini: Il Trittico with Bruno Bertoletti
• Respighi: Il Tramonto with Michel Nesterowicz
• Rossini Arias for Contralto with Pier Giorgio Morandi
• Rossini Gala with W. Michniewski
• Rossini: Tancredi as Tancredi with A. Zedda
• Russian Melodies with Constantin Orbelian
• A Treasury of Polish Songs with Ewa Pobłocka

DVD

• Handel: Giulio Cesare in Egitto as Cornelia from Barcelona Opera
• Donizetti: La fille du régiment as "Marquise de Berkenfield"
• Ponchielli: 'La gioconda as "La cieca" from Barcelona Opera