Aleksandra Kurzak – Biography
“Kurzak is a dazzling new star” (The Sunday Times)
“A superstar in the making, as I noted here after her Adina in last year’s L’elisir d’amore, Kurzak fills the house with her thrillingly pure, warm voice and acts the rest of the cast off the stage. It is a rare moment, indeed, when an opera singer can change the mood with a flash of an eye, the tiniest gesture of disdain.” (The Guardian)
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. Her mother and teacher Jolanta Żmurko performed the role of Countess. 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 Aleksandra Kurzak was a member of the ensemble of the Hamburg State Opera, where she sang numerous roles: Queen of the Night, Blonde, Susanna, Servilia, Marzelline (Fidelio), Nanetta (Falstaff), Ännchen (Der Freischütz), Gilda, Adèle, Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), Maid (Powder her Face), Musetta, Cleopatra, Fiorilla (Il Turco in Italia), Marie (La Fille du Régiment).
In 2004 Aleksandra 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 in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Gilda in Rigoletto. Since her first London appearance, Aleksandra Kurzak has returned regularly to the Royal Opera House, where she has performed roles of Norina (Don Pasquale), Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Susanna, Matilde (Matilde di Shabran) achieving a real triumph on this stage and most recently of Donna Fiorilla (Turco in Italia) and Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia). In February 2010 she made her debut at the Teatro alla Scala as Gilda in Rigoletto.
Aleksandra Kurzak has appeared at the Staatsoper in Berlin (Queen of the Night), Teatro Regio in Parma and Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse (Gilda), Bavarian State Opera in Munich (Cleopatra, Adele, Rosina), Vienna State Opera (Rosina, Adina), Teatro Massimo in Palermo (Norina), Lyric Opera House in Chicago (Blonde), Salzburg Festival (concert arias by Mozart, Ännchen and Donna Anna), National Opera House in Helsinki (Gilda), Palau de les Arts in Valencia (Adina), National Opera House in Warsaw (Gilda, Violetta), Mozart Festival in La Coruña as well as at the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff (Aspasia), Finnish National Opera (Gilda), Theater an der Wien (Donna Anna and Amenaide), Teatro La Fenice in Venice (Donna Anna) and Seattle Opera House (Lucia).
Aleksandra Kurzak has collaborated with many well known conductors including Ivor Bolton, Bruno Campanella, James Conlon, Sir Andrew Davis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Riccardo Frizza, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, René Jacobs, Nicola Luisotti, Sir Charles Mackerras, Ingo Metzmacher, Daniel Oren, Carlo Rizzi, Ralf Weikert and Simone Young.
Aleksandra Kurzak has signed an exclusive recording contract with DECCA in 2011. Her debut recording Gioia! – a collection of contrasting lyric and coloratura arias – will be released in August 2011.
In next seasons Aleksandra Kurzak will appear as Violetta in Torino, Frankfurt, Warsaw and Berlin, Rosina, Adina and Susanna at the Royal Opera House, Adina, Susanna and Marie in La Fille du Regiment at the Vienna State Opera, Susanna at the Teatro Real in Madrid and Teatro alla Scala in Milano, Gretel and Gilda at the MET, Fiordiligi in Los Angeles, Gilda in the new production in San Francisco and Zurich and Adele in the new production of Le Comte Ory at the Teatro alla Scala.
4/2011