Małgorzata Walewska

Biography

During the 2022/23 season, Małgorzata Walewska will star in Aria di potenza, an open-air opera happening directed by Krystian Lada. The show will be premiered at the Studio Theatregallery in Warsaw. Further performances will take place at Kunstfest Weimar, and at International Theater Amsterdam. In October 2022 the mezzo-soprano will make her role debut as Ježibaba in Dvorak’s Rusalka at the Grand Theatre in Poznań, and come back as Amneris on the Baltic Opera stage. In June 2023 Małgorzata Walewska will make another role and stage debut as La Contessa di Coigny in Giordanos’ Andrea Chénier at the Theater St.Gallen.

Małgorzata Walewska is the most sought after dramatic mezzo-soprano in Poland, and a well recognised artist on the international stages. She graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw under the tutelage of Professor Halina Słonicka. In 1991, during her studies, she made her operatic debut at the Polish National Opera performing the role of Aza in Manru. In 1992, she was finalist and laureate of many international vocal competitions: Alfredo Kraus in Las Palmas, Luciano Pavarotti in Philadelphia, Belvedere in Vienna and Stanisław Moniuszko in Warsaw.

In subsequent years, Ms. Walewska was engaged by the Vienna State Opera where she debuted her role as Polina in The Queen of Spades, followed by performances of Carmen, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Olga in Eugene Onegin, Pierotto in Linda di Chamounix and was invited to share the stage with artists such as Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. In 1999, Małgorzata Walewska collaborated with Semperoper in Dresden, where she performed the roles of Ms. Quickly in Falstaff, and Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera. That same year, she appeared at the Deutsche Oper Berlin once again as Ms. Quickly and then as Amneris in Aida and for the first time as Azucena in Il trovatore. She was invited to return to Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2007 where she performed in Cassandra and again in 2011 in Samson et Dalila.

In 2005, Ms. Walewska made her Metropolitan Opera stage debut in the title role of Dalila in Samson et Dalila, and was invited to return to the Metropolitan Opera to perform Amneris and Dalila again. In 2009, Małgorzata Walewska made her debut engagement at the Royal Opera House in London in the role of Azucena. In 2012, she made her first appearance at Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City as Amme in Die Frau ohne Schatten and in the same year, she performed at the Grand Théâtre de Genève in one of her favourite operas Samson et Dalila, under Maestro Michel Plasson. In 2015, she debuted her role as Kundry in Parsifal. At the beginning of 2016/2017 season Ms. Walewska debuted in the role of the Widow in the premiere production of Goplana by W. Żeleński at the Polish National Opera. In the following seasons the mezzo-soprano performed Mistress Quickly in Falstaff at the Oper Köln. She has returned to Köln in the 2018/2019 season as The Auntie in a premiere production of Peter Grimes. The same season she performed the part of Zofia in the world premiere of The Man from Manufaktura composed by the winner of International Opera Composition Competition, Rafał Janiak, at the Grand Theatre in Łódź and debuted in the part of The Old Lady in a premiere production of Candide at the Krakow Opera. In the 2019/2020 season Małgorzata Walewska performed the Unknown, I Live with You contemporary opera installation at the Opera Rara Festival in Krakow and at the Kurt Weill Fest in Dessau.

Małgorzata Walewska’s discography continues to expand with her latest alto part in W. Kilar’s Missa pro pace with the Podlaska Philharmonic Orchestra and  Jochebed in A. Rubinstein’s religious opera Moses with the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra under the baton of Michail Jurowski. Earlier she has recorded a solo CDs of G.F. Händel’s arias, religious songs and organ pieces entitled Farny, Christmas carols Christmas Time and Panta Rhei (Dux), a solo album presenting her most frequently performed opera roles with Sony Classical entitled Voce di Donna, and Sony Music Poland CD Mezzo (songs and arias in contemporary arrangements).

The mezzo-soprano has enjoyed collaborations with many leading conductors including such renowned Maestri as: Marco Armiliato, Seymon Bychkov, Jesus Lopez Cobos, Asher Fish, Valery Gergiev, Philippe Jordan, Vladimir Jurowski, Marko Letonja, Nicola Luisotti, Carlo Montanaro, Pier Giorgio Morandi, Stefan Soltesz, Carlo Rizzi, Massimo Zanetti, Andriy Yurkevych.

In 2014, Małgorzata Walewska was nominated Artistic Director of the Ada Sari International Festival and Vocal Artistry Competition held in Nowy Sącz, Poland. In 2016, she has received the most prestigious decoration bestowed by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, a Gloria Artis medal of the highest class, in recognition of her tremendous contribution to Polish culture.

Małgorzata Walewska is represented in collaboration with Artistainternational.

∗ This biography can be edited only by Studio Kultura. Updated August 2022