Aleksandra Kurzak Soprano

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 Zmurko performed the role of Countess. Kurzak is a laureate of singing competitions in Warsaw, Barcelona, Helsinki and Canton.

Between 2001 and 2007 Kurzak was a member of the ensemble of the Hamburg State Opera, where she sang numerous roles: Blonde (Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Servilia (La clemenza di Tito), Marzelline (Fidelio), Nanetta (Falstaff), Ännchen (Der Freischütz), Gilda (Rigoletto), Adèle (Die Fledermaus), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), Maid (Powder her Face), Marie (Zar und Zimmermann), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare in Egitto), Fiorilla (Il Turco in Italia), Marie (La Fille du Régiment)

In 2005 Kurzak made her debut at The Metropolitan Opera in the role of Olympia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann. In the same year 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 Entführung aus dem Serail and Gilda in Rigoletto. Since her first London appearance, Kurzak has returned regularly to the Royal Opera House, where she has performed roles of Norina (Don Pasquale), Adina (L'elisir d'amore), Susanna and most recently of Matilde (Matilde di Shabran), achieving a real triumph on this stage.

Kurzak has appeared as well at the German State Opera Unter den Linden in Berlin (Queen of the Night), Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse (Gilda), Bavarian State Opera in Munich (Cleopatra, Adele, Rosina), Vienna State Opera (Rosina), Teatro Massimo in Palermo (Norina), Teatro Massimo di Bellini in Catania (concert with arias by Bellini), Lyric Opera House in Chicago (Blonde), Salzburg Festival (concert arias by Mozart and Ännchen), Mozart Festival in A Coruña as well as at the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff (Aspasia) and at the Theater an der Wien (Donna Anna). She appeared with Essen Philharmoniker, the Hamburger Symphoniker, the Hamburger Philharmoniker, the NDR Orchestra and with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. She appeared as Amenaide in Tancredi,as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at the Theater an der Wien, and as Fiorilla at the Bayerische Staatsoper.

She obtained great review from public and critics with Rigoletto in Helsinki, and Rigoletto and Don Giovanni in Hamburg.

Recently she made her debut at La Scala in Milan with Rigoletto conducted by Maestro James Conlon, obtaining great success.

Kurzak has collaborated with many well known conductors including Ivor Bolton, Bruno Campanella, Sir Andrew Davis, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Gabriele Ferro, Riccardo Frizza, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Richard Hickox, Nicola Luisotti, Sir Charles Mackerras, Ingo Metzmacher, Carlo Rizzi, Ralf Weikert, and Simone Young.

She will sing Don Giovanni in Venice and in Salsburg festival, L'elisir d'amore and La fille du régiment at Wien Staatsoper, a new production of Ratto del serraglio at Theater an der Wien, Le nozze di Figaro in Madrid and London, a new Lucia di Lammermoor in Seattle, La traviata in Turin, La Traviata in Frankfurt, a new production of Così fan tutte in Los Angeles, a new Rigoletto in San Francisco, Hansel und Gretel at Metropolitan in New York, Le comte Ory in Teatro La Scala in Milan

This is for information only and should not be reproduced. Please see full biography for further details.