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Robert Gierlach

singing

Robert Gierlach - bass-baritone, one of the most outstanding Polish opera singers, also valued as an excellent interpreter of songs and contemporary music.

He is a graduate of the Warsaw Academy of Music in Professor Kazimierz Pustelak's singing class. The artist was awarded First Prize at the Viotti International Vocal Competition in Vercelli, Italy, and the Audience Prize at the Alfredo Kraus Competition in Las Palmas.

He is a two-time winner of the Fryderyk Award: for his album of songs by P. Lukaszewski and songs by H. M. Górecki; the International Classical Music Awards for "Quo vadis" by Feliks Nowowiejski-part of St. Peter's, (Poznan Philharmonic and Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic Choir under the baton of Lukasz Borowicz) and the A. Hiolski Award for the role of Don Giovanni in the staging by M. Treliński at the Grand Theater in Warsaw.

A soloist with the Warsaw Chamber Opera and the Grand Theater of the National Opera. He has toured abroad extensively with the ensembles of these theaters.

Robert Gierlach has performed at prestigious opera houses and concert stages in Europe, North America and Japan. He has sung at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Teatro dell' Opera in Rome, Teatro dell' Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Teatro G. Verdi in Trieste, Teatro alla Scala in Milan. In France, he has performed on such stages as the Nice Opera House, the Marseilles Opera House, and the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris. In the United States, the artist has performed at the Detroit Opera House as Figaro in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro," among others. He has also sung the part of Figaro at the Nico Theatre in Cape Town (South Africa), at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival and at the Grand Theatre in Geneva as well as at the Grand Opera in Florida (Miami).

He also performs actively, collaborating with such ensembles as the National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, NOSPR, Sinfonia Varsovia, Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, I Solisti Veneti, City of Birmingham Orchestra, Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Dresdner Rundfunk Orcheser, NHK Tokyo Orchestra.

The artist has participated in many music festivals, including Salzburger Festspiele, BBC Proms (Royal Albert Hall), Berliner Festwoche and Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Wratislavia Cantans. He has collaborated with many well-known conductors such as: Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Nello Santi, Charles Dutoit, Jeffrey Tate, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Claudio Scimone, Michele Plasson, Vladimir Jurovski, Daniele Gatti, Vladimir Gergiev, Christian Thielemann,Christopher Hogwood,Frans Bruggen, Massilmiliano Caldi, Jacek Kaspszyk, Jan Krenz, Kazimierz Kord, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Gabriel Chmura, Jerzy Semkow, Antoni Wit.

In the past dozen years or so, Robert Gierlach has performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Opera du Montreal, Lyric Opera of Baltimore, Flanders Opera of Antwerp, New York City Opera, Tokyo-NHK, Opera Ottawa, Arizona Opera, Cleveland Opera and Opera Orlando, among others. Robert Gierlach has also performed on the stage of the famous Carnegie Hall in New York.

For several years, he has been a soloist with the Polish Royal Opera in Warsaw and teaches a solo singing class at the Faculty of Vocal and Acting at the UMFC.

Photo: Arkadiusz Michał Witkowski