Ewa Podles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ewa Podles (last name pronounced PODE-lesh) was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1952. She is an 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 Met debut in 1984 singing the title role in Handel's Rinaldo and since then has gone on to performing regularly at all the major opera houses in Europe and America.

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.

Her recent performances includes La Cieca in Ponchielli's 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. In 2007 she is slated to debut as 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.

[edit] External links

http://www.podles.pl/index2en.htm (Ewa Podles' official site in English and Polish)
http://www.delosmus.com/bio/eva_podles.html (Delos International site)
http://theoperacritic.com/singers.php?singer=ewa_podles (Theoperacritic.com singer's page)

[edit] Recordings

Audio CD

Airs Célebres (Händel, Vivaldi, Purcell, Gluck, and Marcello)
Chopin: Mélodies
Chopin: Songs
de Falla: El Amor Brujo with Krzysztof Penderecki
Duets (Mendelssohn, Brahms, Schumann)
Gluck: Armide as La Haine with Marc Minkowski
Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice as Orfeo with Peter Maag
Gluck: Orphée et Eurydice as Orphée
Händel Arias from Rinaldo and Orlando
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
Rossini Gala with W Michniewski
Rossini: Tancredi as Tancredi with A Zedda
Russian Melodies
A Treasury of Polish Songs with Ewa Poblocka