Barbara Dobrzanska - Sopran, soprano

Barbara Dobrzanska was born in Krakow / Poland. She started her musical career in the orchestra of the opera in Krakow as violinist but also studied singing at the Music Academy in Katowice and later in Stuttgart with Sylvia Geszty. After first engagements in Görlitz and Trier she became a member of the Dortmund Opera in 2000. There she was especially successful in the role of Louise in both of Charpentier’s operas Louise and Julien. In 2002 she joined the opera in Karlsruhe, where due to the richness and warmth of her lirico spinto soprano, her musicality and her moving interpretations she quickly became a favourite with both critics and the audience. Here she has already sung the title role in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Mimì in La Bohème, Jitka in Smetana’s Dalibor, Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen, Alice Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff, the title role in Luisa Miller, Antonia in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann, Rosalinde in Strauß’s Die Fledermaus and most recently Margherita and Elena in the new production of Boito’s Mefistofele. In the last season she added the title role in Madama Butterfly and Tatiana in Tchaikovsky's Jevgenij Onegin. During the 2005/06 season she sang her first Amelia in Simon Boccanegra in a new production in Karlsruhe, Maria in Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa and her role debut a Liù in Turandot, and she also appeared with an aria concert with the Munich Symphonic Orchestra, where she returned again in July 2007. 2006/2007 she added Desdemona in a new production of Otello to her repertoire and during the 2007/2008 season she sang for the first time Dvorak’s Rusalka Puccini’s Manon Lescaut and Roxane in Alfano’s Cyrano de Bergerac, all in new productions in Karlsruhe.

The role debuts during the 2008/2009 season in Karlsruhe are as Elisabetta in Don Carlo and as Maddalena in Giordano’s Andrea Chénier.

Other roles of her varied repertoire are Giulietta in Bellini’s I Capuleti ei Montecchi, Violetta in La Traviata and Gilda in Rigoletto by Verdi, Hanna Glawari in Lehár’s Die lustige Witwe, Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust, Zdenka in Strauss’s Arabella, Marzelline in Beethoven’s Fidelio, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro by Mozart, the title role in Flotow’s Martha, Nedda in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Marie in Gurlitt’s Die Soldaten, the title role in Korngold's Die Kathrin, Euridice in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and Rosina in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia.

In December 2007 she returned to the Graz Opera for Madama Butterfly where previously she was highly acclaimed as Suor Angelica. In January 2008 she sings Madama Butterfly in two staged performances in Budapest’s Philharmonic Hall, conducted by Pier Giorgio Morandi. In August 2004 she sang Verdi's Requiem at the Baltic Sea Festival in Stockholm in March 2005 she made her Vienna Musikverein debut with the same piece and she also sang it in memory of the Pope in a concert in Rome. In June 2006 she made her debut with the Munich Symphonic Orchestra with an aria concert and in May 2007 she sang Edward Elgar's The Apostles in Trier. In February 2008 she sang Mahler’s 8^th Symphony in Karlsruhe.

Upcoming engagements in 2009/2010 include her role debut as Amalia in Verdi’s I Masnadieri, as Tosca and Lenio in Martinu's Greek Passion in Karlsruhe, Manon Lescaut in Kassel and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni in Kaiserslautern

During the season 2010/2011 she will be adding the roles of Kat'a Kabaonvá and Ponchielli's La Gioconda in new productions in Karlsruhe and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte.

February 2010

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