Edyta Kulczak, mezzosoprano

Edyta Kulczak has been hailed as a "Diamond of passion in the setting of elegance" (Montecito Journal Santa Barbara, 2000). Following her appearance in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition (2003), Opera magazine proclaimed: "In terms of dramatic intensity, there was perhaps no one who sang better or more consistently than the Polish mezzo Edyta Kulczak" and further praised her for her "full and rich voice and naturally elegant presence."

Ms. Kulczak has been a frequent guest at the Metropolitan Opera since the Grand Finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (1999). It was at the Met that she made her debut as Flora in La Traviata (2003). Her previous engagements with the famed company include: Aida, Ägyptische Helena, Carmen, La Forza del Destino, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Lucia di Lammermoor, Lulu, Madama Butterfly, Moses und Aron, Le Nozze di Figaro, Parsifal, Rigoletto, Rusalka, Suor Angelica, Die Walkürie and I Vespri Siciliani. She has also joined the company in performances of Cavalleria Rusticana, La clemenza di Tito, Don Carlo, Faust, The Gambler, Die Götterdämmerung, L’Italiana in Algeri, Jenůfa, Kát'a Kabanová, Lakmè, Manon, Manon Lescaut, Otello, I Puritani, Das Rheingold, Rodelinda, Le Rossignol, Simon Boccanegra, Tales of Hoffmann, Il Trovatore, Les Troyens and War and Peace, under such illustrious conductors as Marco Armiliato, Paolo Arrivabeni, Bernard de Billy, Placido Domingo, Valery Gergiev, Friedrich Heider, Chikara Imamura, James Levine, Fabio Luisi, Lorin Maazel, Erik Nielsen, Kostis Protopapas, Donald Runnicles, Eraldo Salmieri and Marcello Viotti.

In the 2011/12 season Kulczak returns to the Metropolitan Opera to perform in productions of Madama Butterfly and Aida among others. In April she is making her debut as Adalgisa in Norma with Tulsa Opera, Oklahoma. In July she can be heard as Olga in Eugene Onegin with Cincinnati Opera, Ohio. Later this year she will perform Eboli in Don Carlo with the Silesian Opera, Amneris in Aida and Preziosilla with Grand Theatre Poznan, Poland. In the fall 2011 you can hear her as Carmen in Krakow Opera, Poland.

In March 2010 she made her debut with the Boston Lyric Opera as Der Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos and Venus in Tannhäuser with Grand Theatre in Poznan, Poland. Ms. Kulczak has been heard in the title roles of Carmen and Samson and Delilah with the Wrocław Opera and the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra in Louisiana; as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly and Martha in Mefistofele with the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland; as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Santa Barbara Grand Opera; as Flora in La Traviata with the Opera Theater of Saint Louis and Santa Fe Opera, and as Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino under the direction of Carlo Bergonzi with the Fondazione Arturo Toscanini in Busseto, Italy.

On the concert platform, Ms. Kulczak has sung Bach’s Magnificat and Handel’s Alexander’s Feast with the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in Sapporo, Japan. She has sung in Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Mozart’s Missa di Requiem and Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen in addition to many song recitals throughout the United States and Europe. Ms. Kulczak made her Carnegie Hall debut (2005) as part of the Leif Ove Andsnes Perspectives series in Zankel Hall.

She received her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw under Krystyna Szostek-Radkowa and an Artist Diploma from Northwestern University School of Music under Elizabeth Fischer. She studied under the famous Mignon Dunn, Carlo Bergonzi and Marilyn Horne. She received additional training at the Music Academy of the West where she sang Eduige in Rodelinda. Ms. Kulczak has also received first prizes with Barnett Foundation, the National Competition of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Society of American Musicians and the Chicago Bel Canto Foundation Opera Competition. She was a finalist in such prestigious competitions as Loren Zachary and BBC Cardiff Singer of the World.