Ewa Podles

Ewa Podleś (last name pronounced PODE-lesh) was born April 26 1952 in Warsaw, Poland. She is a Polish internationally celebrated contralto with a very wide vocal range (up to soprano high C) and great vocal agility. After studying at the Warsaw Academy of Music under Madame Bolechowska, Podles made her stage debut as Dorabella in Mozart's Così fan tutte in 1975. Podles made her Metropolitan Opera debut on February 14, 1984, singing the title role in Handel's Rinaldo, but only for few performances that year (from which only two were in the Met's House), and was notably absent from the Met for more than 24 years, since then pursuing her career elsewhere and performing regularly at all other major opera houses in Europe and America. Her return to the Met took place on September 24, 2008, when she sang role of La Cieca in Ponchielli's La Gioconda.

Though known mainly by her Baroque works, Podles' repertoire ranges from Handel's Giulio Cesare (Cesare) to songs by Shostakovich. Right at the center of her abilities; however, are the contralto roles (some of them "trouser" roles) from Gioacchino Rossini. She is also a specialist in Russian works.

Her recent performances includes roles of La Cieca in La Gioconda, Bertarido in Händel's Rodelinda, the title role in Rossini's Tancredi, the title role in Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto, Isabella in Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri, Erda in Wagner's Ring Cycle at the Seattle Opera, and Klytämnestra in Richard Strauss's Elektra with the Canadian Opera Company.

Madame Podles and her husband, the accomplished pianist Jerzy Marchwinski, live in Warsaw, Poland.

References

External links

• Ewa Podles' official site (in English and Polish)
• Recordings of Podles at Delos International
• TheOperaCritic.com singer's page

Recordings

Audio CD

• Airs Célebres (Händel, Vivaldi, Purcell, Gluck, and Marcello)
• Chopin: Mélodies with Abdel Rahman "El Bacha"
• Chopin: Songs with Garrick Ohlsson
• de Falla: El Amor Brujo with Krzysztof Penderecki
• Duets (Mendelssohn, Brahms, Schumann) with Joanna Kozlowska and Jerzy Marchwinski (piano)
• Gluck: Armide as La Haine with Marc Minkowski
• Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice as Orfeo with Peter Maag
• Gluck: Orphée et Eurydice as Orphée with Patrick Preire
• Händel Arias from Rinaldo and Orlando with Constantin Orbelian
• Händel: Ariodante as Polinesso with Marc Minkowski
• Mahler: Symphony No.2: Resurrection with Jean-Claude Casadesus
• Mahler: Symphony No.3 with Antoni Wit
• Mozart: Requiem with Michel Corboz & L'Ensemble Vocal et Instrumental de Lausanne
• Offenbach: Orphée aux Enfers as L'Opinion publique
• Penderecki: Seven Gates of Jerusalem with Kazimierz Kord
• Penderecki: Te Deum and Lacrimosa
• Ewa Podles & Garrick Ohlsson Live
• Ptaszynska: Concerto for Marimba; Songs of Despair and Loneliness
• Prokofiev: Alexandr Nevsky with JC Casadesus
• Puccini: Il Trittico with Bruno Bertoletti
• Respighi: Il Tramonto with Michel Nesterowicz
• Rossini Arias for Contralto with Pier Giorgio Morandi
• Rossini Gala with W Michniewski
• Rossini: Tancredi as Tancredi with A Zedda
• Russian Melodies with Constantin Orbelian
• A Treasury of Polish Songs with Ewa Poblocka

DVD

• Händel: Giulio Cesare in Egitto as Cornelia from Barcelona Opera
• Donizetti: La Fille du Regiment as "Marquise de Berkenfield"
• Ponchielli: 'La gioconda as "La cieca" from Barcelona Opera