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Wigmore Hall recital
with Garrick Ohlsson:
"Ewa Podles' recital last night was one
of those rare, and very special occasions when a singer opened the lid of her soul and poured forth a stream of uninhibited
emotion. Uninhibited, by by no means uncontrolled, and with an usual level of communication between performers....A
performance of rare stature."
-theoperacritic.com, January 2008 |
Houston Grand Opera La fille du Regiment:
"An
immense asset was a cast ready and willing to play the show to the hilt. The first to hit the stage was Polish contralto
Ewa Podles as the Marquise. She played the character as a scene-chewing dominatrix, and mugged and sang with delicious
abandon but stupendous vocal skill. She dove deep into her low range, threw out a few high-voltage top notes and even
started up the Habanera from Bizet's Camen during Marie's singing lesson opening Act. 2."
The Houston Chronicle, October 27, 2007
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Mahler #3 with the Seattle Symphony:
"Ewa
Podles sang the contralto role with the depth of sound we have come to expect from this Polish singer, both at the symphony
and Seattle Opera, where she often appears. She has a remarkable voice and musicality, virtues she brought to the Mahler.
Her singing was quietly powerful and emotionally resonant. The cheers at the end of the performance were well-deserved."
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 29,
2007 |
With her distinctive, dramatic voice of staggering
range, agility and amplitude, Warsaw-born and -based Ewa PodleÑ is widely
regarded as the world=s foremost contralto. Her engagements include the Seattle Opera (title role of
Handel=s Giulio Cesare, Adalgisa in Bellini=s Norma and Erda in Wagner=s Ring cycle); San Diego Opera (Cesare; upcoming Marquise in Donizetti's La fille du
Regiment); San Francisco Opera (Principessa in Puccini's Suor Angelica),
Canadian Opera Company (Cesare, Jocasta in Oedipus Rex, Klytamnestra in Elektra and title role of Rossini=s Tancredi);
Houston Grand Opera (Ulrica in Verdi=s Un Ballo in Maschera and the Marquise); Dallas Opera
(Bertarido in Handel=s Rodelinda and Erda); Milwaukee=s Florentine Opera (Azucena in Verdi=s Il Trovatore), Michigan Opera Theatre (Ulrica) and Minnesota
Opera (Malcolm in Rossini’s La donna del lago). In fall 2008 New York heard her triumphant return
to the Metropolitan Opera as La Cieca in La Gioconda and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center debut in a program
of Respighi's Il Tramonto and Haydn's Arianna a Nasso. This
same season included recitals with Garrick Ohlsson in Baltimore and Quebec; and the Countess in Pique Dame at the
Opera de Monte Carlo.
Past appearances at New York=s Carnegie
Hall include Gluck=s Orphée et Eurydice with the Oratorio Society of New York, Ulrica with the Collegiate Chorale, baroque
and Rossini programs with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Das Lied von der Erde with the Philadelphia Orchestra; and
Szymanowski=s Three Hymns with Sinfonia Varsovia. Of special note were sensationally received performances of Rossini=s cantata Giovanna d=Arco with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra (in Pittsburgh and
at Lincoln Center=s Avery Fisher Hall) and Toronto Symphony; and Tancredi in concert with the Detroit Symphony under the auspices
of the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which previously presented her in recital as well as in an acclaimed,
semistaged version of Orfeo. She has sung principal roles at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin and
Deutsche Oper Berlin; Frankfurt Alte Oper; Gran Teatre del Liceu; Teatro Bellini; La Scala; La Fenice; Teatro San Carlo; Warsaw=s National
Theatre; Théâtre Châtelet and Opéra Bastille. She is since 1978 a member of Warsaw's
Teatr Wielki. In addition to her rigorous operatic calendar, Mme. PodleÑ
is one of the most acclaimed recital and concert performers in the world. She has been guest soloist with
the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra under Nicholas McGegan (baroque arias); the San Francisco Symphony (for both the Verdi Requiem
and Prokofiev=s Alexander Nevsky, under Donald Runnicles and Libor Pešek, respectively); Detroit Symphony (Mahler=s Second
Symphony and Das Lied von der Erde, both with Neeme Järvi); Seattle Symphony under Gerard
Schwarz (Mahler #3); and Montreal Symphony (a Berlioz/Gluck program under Charles Dutoit and Kindertotenlieder under
Antonin Wit). Other orchestral credits include the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and National
Arts Centre Orchestras; National Orchestra of Spain; Pittsburgh, American, Toronto, NHK Tokyo and New World Symphonies; Hong
Kong and Dresden Philharmonics; under such conductors as David Atherton, Leon Botstein, Myung-Whun Chung, Armin Jordan, Lorin
Maazel, Constantine Orbelian, Alberto Zedda and Pinchas Zukerman. A particularly acclaimed
recitalist, she has been on the major art-song series of Cleveland, Atlanta, Vancouver, Philadelphia, St.
Paul, Chicago, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Toronto, Moscow, Warsaw, Montreal, San Juan, Québec and New York (Alice Tully
Hall and the 92nd Street Y). Festival invitations include New York=s Bard Festival,
Aix-en-Provence, Flanders, Montpellier and Lanaudière. At Caramoor she has sung both Azucena and Tancredi.
Her many collaborations with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre includes two Deutsche Grammophon recordings:
Handel=s Ariodante and Gluck=s Armide. Other recent issues include two acclaimed
Delos recordings: Handel Arias and Russian Arias. She has made three recital discs with the pianist
Garrick Ohlsson, including a new release recorded "live" at Wigmore Hall.
Mme. Podles' vocal study was with Alina
Bolechowska at Warsaw's Chopin Music Academy. Awards include top prizes at Moscow's prestigious Tchaikowsky
Competition.
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