Anna Radziejewska,
opera singer (mezzo-soprano); b. 6th May 1971 in Warsaw. In 1998 she graduated with honours from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in the class of Jerzy Artysz. Since 1999 she teaches at the FCUM Department of Vocal and Acting Studies.
She is a winner of many national and international vocal competitions, including in Karlove Vary (special prize, 1996), Mario del Monaco (3rd prize, 2000), Grand Prix Maria Callas (2nd prize, 2001) Opera de Wallonie (4th prize, 2001), and Bilbao (finalist 2002). In 2001, she received the Andrzej Hiolski award for the best opera debut.
She debuted on the stage of the Grand Theatre – National Opera with the part of Bona in the Heart Extractor by Elżbieta Sikora. In 1999-2017 she cooperated with the Warsaw Chamber Opera where she sang leading mezzo-soprano roles in Claudio Monteverdi’s Orfeo, The Return of Ulysses, and The Coronation of Poppea; Georg Friedrich Handel’s Cosi fan tutte, La Betulia liberate, and La clemenza di Tito; Gioacchino Rossini’s Semiramide, and The Barber of Seville; and Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Oniegin.
Since her debut as Lady Macbeth in the Salvatore Sciarrino’s Macbeth in 2004 in Luzern, she has been one of the leading performers of the composer's works in the world. Sciarrino composed for her, among others Izumi part in Da gelo a gelo and La Donna in Superflumina, as well as chamber work Immagina il deserto. She has repeatedly performed as La Malaspina in Lucia mie traditrici, Suzarry in L'Artro Giardino, and in La nuova Euridice at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.
She also collaborates with Polish composers. Wojciech Blecharz composed for her his first opera Transcryptum (2013). Dariusz Przybylski wrote for her the Apollo part in his opera Orfeé (2015), and in 2017 he dedicated his Chansons d’Appollon for mezzo-soprano, accordion and cello to Anna Radziejewska, Klaudiusz Baran and Piotr Hausenplas.
Anna Radziejewska's rich concert epertoire includes songs, chamber works, oratorios and cantatas. She gives concerts with recognized ensembles of early music (Collegium Musicum Koeln, Concerto Vocale, Il Tempo, MACV, La Fenice, Royal Baroque Ensemble) and contemporary musicc (Klangforum Wien, Algoritmo, Icarus, London Sinfonietta, Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble, Aukso). She has performed at numerous festivals, including Tongyeong International Musice Festival (TIMF), Holland Festival, Maerz Festival Berlin, Wiener Festwochen, Salzburg Festspiele, Biennale Musica Venezia, Schwetzingen Festival, Warsaw Autumn.
She has given numerous performances at such internationally renowned venues as the Opéra National de Paris, The Royal Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), the Opera National du Rhin (Strasbourg), the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Vlaamse Opera, the Salzburg Festival, the Wiener Festwochen, the Grand Thetre – Polish National Opera in Warsaw, and almost every philharmonic hall in Poland, the Warsaw Philharmonic included. She has sung under such conductors as Harry Bicket, Ivor Bolton, Attilio Cremonesi, Andreas Spering, Paolo Carignani, Emilio Pomarico, Michel Tabachnik, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Friedemann Layer, Jean Tubery, Sebastien Rouland, Johannes Debus, Tito Ceccherini, Beat Furrer, Daniel Grossman, Antoni Wit, Wojciech Michniewski, Jacek Kasprzyk, Marco Angius, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Marek Moś, Ryszard Zimak, Lilianna Stawarz, Władysław Kłosiewicz, Zbigniew Graca, Ruben Silva, Kai Bumann, Przemysław Fiugajski.
She has recorded numerous albums with the Warsaw Chamber Opera ensemble as well as many works by Salvatore Sciarrino. Since 2007, she collaborates with DUX Records, which released her albums with songs of Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Karol Szymanowski, Witold Lutosławski and Oskar Kolberg, recorded with pianist Mariusz Rutkowski. Their album Karol Szymanowski: Songs received Selecionèe par ARTE and Orfèe D’Or 2009. In 2018 her recording of the baroque oratorio Antonio Caldara – Maddalena ai piedi di Cristo received the Fryderyk and Feniks Awards.
In 2010 she received the Gloria Artis Bronze Medal, followed by the Silver Cross of Merit two years later. Since 2017 she is a soloist of the Polish Royal Opera.
updated: 2020 (ac)
