Professor Włodzimierz Zalewski

A singer affil­i­ated with the Grand The­atre — National Opera in War­saw and the Grand The­atre in Łódź.

He grad­u­ated from the Vocal and Act­ing Depart­ment at the State Higher School of Music in Łódź, Pro­fes­sor Zdzisław Krzywicki’s class, in 1976. He is the win­ner of many vocal com­pe­ti­tions, awards and hon­ourable mentions.

He has over 50 lead­ing oper­atic roles in his reper­tory and has pre­sented them in Poland and abroad, e.g., in Ger­many, Aus­tria, Switzer­land, France, Greece and Hol­land. The roles he holds in great­est esteem are: Gurne­manza in Richard Wagner’s Par­si­fal, the title role in his Fly­ing Dutch­man, Zachary in Nabucco, the title role in Attila, Philip the Sec­ond and the Grand Inquisi­tor in Don Car­los, Wal­ter in Giuseppe Verdi’s Luisa Miller, Fiesco in his Simon Boc­cane­gra, Scarpi in Gia­como Puccini’s Tosca, Baron Ochs von Lerchenau in Richard Strauss’s The Rose Cav­a­lier, Don Piz­zaro in Lud­wig van Beethoven’s Fide­lio, the title role in Mod­est Musorgski’s Boris Godunov, Gremin in Pyotr Ilyich Tschaikovsky’s Eugene One­gin, Kochubey in his Mazeppa, Men­doza in Sergei Prokofiev’s Betrothal in the Monastery, Creon and Mes­sen­ger in Igor Stravinsky’s Oedi­pus Rex, Duke Blue­beard in Bela Bartok’s Duke Bluebeard’s Cas­tle, the title role in Mozart’s Don Gio­vanni and Saras­tra in his Magic Flute, Van Bett in Albert Lortzing’s Zar and Zim­mer­mann, Zbig­niew and Skołuba in Stanisław Moniuszko’s Haunted Manor and Esquire in his Halka.

He has sung in Pol­ish and world pre­mieres of the fol­low­ing works: San­dor Balassy’s Drausen von der Tur, Karl Kogler’s Kohlhass (record and film), Romuald Twardowski’s Maria Stu­art and Lord Jim, Krzysztof Penderecki’s Ubu Rex and Elż­bi­eta Sikora’s Heart­snatcher (l’Arrache-coeur).

He has made many record, tele­vi­sion and radio recordings.

He also has a rich ora­to­rio reper­tory includ­ing: Georg Friedrich Händel’s Mes­siah, Johann Sebas­t­ian Bach’s St. John Pas­sion, St. Matthew Pas­sion, Mass in B Minor, Christ­mas Ora­to­rio, Easter Ora­to­rio, Wolf­gang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem, Gioachino Rossini’s Sta­bat Mater, Petite Messe Solen­nelle, Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, Antonin Dvorak’s Requiem, Sta­bat Mater, Lud­wig van Beethoven’s Missa Solem­nis and Sym­phony No. 9. He also has many song cycles in his reper­tory: Franz Schubert’s Schwa­nenge­sang, Robert Schumann’s Dichter­liebe, Johannes Brahms’s Vier ern­ste Gesänge, Mod­est Musorgski’s Songs and Dances of Death, Hugo Wolf’s Michael Angelo Lieder, and many other songs by Pol­ish and for­eign composers.

He has col­lab­o­rated with renowned con­duc­tors includ­ing Zyg­munt Latoszewski, Jerzy Katlewicz, Jerzy Semkow, Hen­ryk Czyż, Antoni Wicherek, Bogusław Madey, Semyon Bychkov, Man­fred Mayrhofer and Antoni Wit. He has per­formed under such stage direc­tors as Andrzej Żuławski, Marek Weiss-Grzesiński, Fritz Flieder, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Pier Luigi Pier’Alli, Gilbert Deflo and Christof Loy.

Włodz­imierz Zalewski has been teach­ing since 1980. He is a full pro­fes­sor. His for­mer stu­dents have won many prizes at Pol­ish and inter­na­tional com­pe­ti­tions. They sing at the best opera houses in the world. Mar­iusz Kwiecień, Daniel Borowski and Piotr Miciński are some of most dis­tin­guished for­mer students.

Włodz­imierz Zalewski lec­tures on vocal teach­ing and sits on the juries of singing com­pe­ti­tions. He con­ducts mas­ter courses for young singers (he taught a mas­ter course at the Royal Col­lege of Music in Stock­holm in 2003). He is also the founder of mas­ter courses in Rheins­berg (Musika­cad­e­mie). He has super­vised and reviewed many doc­toral dis­ser­ta­tions and reviewed post­doc­toral dis­ser­ta­tions and pro­fes­sor­ships. He was head of the Chair of Vocal Stud­ies at the FCAM in War­saw in 2002–2005 and is now dean of the Vocal and Act­ing Depart­ment at the Acad­emy of Music in Łódź.

e-mail: wlozal@wp.pl