Obituary,
Ewa Podleś (1952-2024)
The Polish contralto Ewa Podleś, whose powerful yet supremely agile voice was a force of nature, has died in Warsaw aged 71.
Born in Warsaw in 1952, Podleś inherited some of her distinctive vocal qualities from her mother Teresa, a contralto in the chorus of Polish National Opera who was blessed with what her daughter described as a ‘very, very deep voice’. Podleś studied with Alina Bolechowska in her home-city, making her opera-debut as Dorabella in Così fan tutte in 1975 and winning Third Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition three years later.
Endowed with a three-octave range and a cavernous chest-register which could cut effortlessly across a full orchestra, Podleś excelled in dramatic Rossini assignments such as Tancredi, Arsace in Semiramide, and the title-role in Ciro in Babilonia, and as Handel's Orlando, Bertarido (Rodelinda), Polinesso (Ariodante) and Rinaldo.
It was in the latter role that she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1984, stepping in to replace house favourite Marilyn Horne: The New York Times noted that her voice was at that stage on the small side for the venue, but also observed that ‘her florid technique was polished, her tone was smooth and unforced, and her range was equal to every demand made by an extremely difficult part’.
Thereafter, she made only rare appearances in the United States, considering it ‘a little bit too far’ from her home in Poland; one notable exception was a return to the Met to sing La Cieca in Ponchielli’s La Gioconda in 2008, when the Financial Times described her as ‘the obvious star of the evening’ thanks to her ‘vocal generosity, physical pathos and expressive sensitivity’.
Podleś’s repertoire also included the Countess in Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame, Azucena in Verdi's Il trovatore, Erda in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, Klytämnestra in Strauss's Elektra, and La Zia Principessa & Zita in Puccini's Il trittico. Later in her career, her imposing stage-presence and gift for comic timing made a terrific impact in character-roles including Madame de la Haltière in Massenet's Cendrillon, L'Opinion Publique in Offenbach's Orphée aux enfers, and La Marquise de Berkenfeld in Donizetti's La fille du régiment (her final stage-role). She stepped back from operatic engagements in 2017 due to orthopaedic problems, and thereafter devoted much of her energy to teaching.
On the concert-platform, Podleś was renowned for her interpretations of Russian and Polish song repertoire, frequently championing music by her compatriots Lutosławski, Szymanowski and Penderecki. She often performed and recorded with her husband, the Polish pianist Jerzy Marchwiński, whom she survived by just two months.
Podleś died of lung cancer on 19th January, and is survived by her daughter Mari Madej and step-daughter Ania Marchwinska, who announced her death earlier this week. Her former recital-partner Garrick Ohlsson, the contralto Hilary Summers, and mezzos Sarah Connolly and Anna Bonitatibus were among the musicians who paid tribute to her artistry on social media.
Ewa Podleś - a selected discography
Ewa Podleś & Garrick Ohlsson at Wigmore Hall
Chopin - Rachmaninoff - Tchaikovsky - Szymanowski - Mussorgsky
Ewa Podleś (contralto), Garrick Ohlsson (piano)
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
Ewa Podleś (contralto), Philharmonia of Russia, Constantine Orbelian
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Ewa Podleś (contralto), Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Constantine Orbelian
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Ewa Podleś (contralto), Hungarian State Opera Orchestra & Chorus, Pier Giorgio Morandi
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
World Opera Stars: Ewa Podleś
Gluck - Rossini - Donizetti - Ponchielli - Mascagni - Verdi - Massenet
Ewa Podleś (contralto), Filharmonia Poznańska, Łukasz Borowicz
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
Anne Sofie von Otter (Ariodante), Lynne Dawson (Ginevra), Verónica Cangemi (Dalinda), Ewa Podleś (Polinesso), Richard Croft (Lurcanio), Denis Sedov (Il Re di Scozia), Luc Coadou (Odoardo)
Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
Ewa Podleś (Tancredi), Sumi Jo (Amenaide), Anna Maria di Micco (Isaura), Stanford Olsen (Argirio), Pietro Spagnoli (Orbazzano), Lucretia Lendi (Roggiero)
Collegium Instrumentale Brugense, Capella Brugensis, Alberto Zedda
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Yann Beuron (Orphée), Natalie Dessay (Euridice), Ewa Podleś (L'Opinion Publique), Laurent Naouri (Jupiter), Jean-Paul Fouchecourt (Pluton-Aristée), Patricia Petibon (Cupidon), Jennifer Smith (Diane), Veronique Gens (Vénus), Steven Cole (John Styx)
Orchestre et Choeur de l'Opéra National de Lyon, Marc Minkowski
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
Ewa Podleś (Ciro), Jessica Pratt (Amira), Michael Spyres (Baldassare), Mirco Palazzi (Zambri), Carmen Romeu (Argene), Robert McPherson (Arbace), Raffaele Costantini (Daniello)
Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Will Crutchfield, Davide Livermore
Available Format: Blu-ray
Misha Didyk (Hermann), Emily Magee (Lisa), Ewa Podleś (Countess), Lado Ataneli (Count Tomsky), Ludovic Tézier (Prince Yeletsky), Elena Zaremba (Polina), Mikhaïl Vekua (Chaplitsky), Francisco Vas (Chekalinsky) & Claudia Schneider (Masha)
Gran Teatre del Liceu, Michael Boder, Gilbert Deflo
Available Format: 2 DVD Videos
Joyce DiDonato (Cendrillon), Alice Coote (Prince Charming), Ewa Podleś (Madame de la Haltère), Eglise Gutiérrez (Fairy Godmother), Jean-Philippe Lafont (Pandolfe), Madeleine Pierard (Noémie), Kai Rüütel (Dorothée), Jeremy White (Le Roi)
The Royal Opera House, Bertrand de Billy, Laurent Pelly
Available Format: 2 DVD Videos
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
