Stefania Toczyska
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Stefania Toczyska (née Krzywinska), born in Grudziądz, Poland, on February 19, 1943, is a Polish mezzo-soprano of international repute.
She lived in Toruń where she attended the Music School (little conservatory). There she married Romuald Toczyski, a music teacher. She moved in 1968 with her family to Gdańsk in order to pursue her higher education. There she studied singing in the Higher Music School (the subsequent Academy of Music) in the class of Barbara Iglikowska, receiving her final diploma (with distinction) in 1973. But even before that, during studies, she was building her career by winning awards in international vocal competitions in Toulouse (1971), Paris (1972) and Hertogenbosch (1973).
Her debut occurred in 1972 on the stage of the Baltic State Opera House in Gdańsk in one of a role in little known internationally (though a national shrine in Poland) opera by Moniuszko, The Haunted Manor. Shortly after, she sings there the title role in Carmen and her fame and prestige grows accordingly.
Initially her activity was centered locally in Gdansk, where she kept position as the leading soloist in the Baltic State Opera, making also frequent guast visits to other opera houses. In 1975 Baltic State Opera produced, especially for her, Samson et Dalila in 1975 (that same production showed also the next year in Warsaw), and La Favorita by Donizetti in 1978 (also showed in Bremen the next year).
With her international career strongly established, she gave the farewell performance in Gdansk on July 15, 1979 as Dalila, quitting working regularly for the Baltic State Opera, eventually moving out of Poland and establishing her permanent residency in Vienna, her career centered from now on in Staatsoper.
From there she made frequent guest visits to sing on stages of various opera houses around the world, and including her native country, particularly at Teatr Wielki, Warsaw.
In 1979 she made her American debut at the San Francisco Opera, as Laura in La Gioconda (with Renata Scotto and Luciano Pavarotti), which was televised around the world. She made her first appearance at Royal Opera House in 1983 (as Amneris in Aida), and also sang at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.
In 1988, Toczyska made her Metropolitan Opera debut, as Marfa in Mussourgsky's Khovanshchina. She went on to sing there in Aida, Il trovatore, La Gioconda, Boris Godunov (as Marina Mnichek), Un ballo in maschera (as Ulrica), Rusalka (as Jezibaba) and Adriana Lecouvreur (as the Princesse de Bouillon), with her last performance there in 1997.
Her discography includes recordings of Il trovatore (as Azucena, opposite Katia Ricciarelli, José Carreras and Yuri Mazurok, conducted by Sir Colin Davis, 1980) and Prokofiev's War and Peace (with Galina Vishnevskaya, conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich, 1986).
