Teresa Żylis-Gara


Teresa Żylis-Gara is a Polish operatic soprano who had a major international career during the 1950s through the 1990s. Although chiefly known for her portrayals in operas by Mozart, Puccini and Verdi, she sang a broad repertoire that encompassed a wide array of musical periods and languages. In addition to her work on the stage, she has been active as a concert singer and recitalist, and is particularly admired for her interpretations of the works of Bach, Handel and Brahms.

Career

Teresa Żylis-Gara was born in Landwarów, Second Polish Republic. She studied for nine years at the Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Muzyczna in Łódź with. In 1954 she won first prize at the Polish Young Vocalists Contest in Warsaw which led to engagements to sing on the Polish National Radio and to perform as a soloist with the Kraków Philharmonic. In 1956 she made her professional opera debut with Opera Krakowska in the title role of Stanisław Moniuszko's Halka. She returned there the following year to portray the title role Puccini's Madama Butterfly.
In 1958 Żylis-Gara won 2nd prize at the Concours of Toulouse and in 1960 she won 3rd prize at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich. The latter competition win led to her engagement at the Theater Oberhausen, and from that moment, her career was largely centered in Germany for the next decade. She continued her voice training in Germany with Dietger Jacob. She was offered a long term contract with the Theater Dortmund in 1962, singing there for the next three years.
When the new Opernhaus Dortmund was opened in 1966, she performed the title role Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss, alongside with Elisabeth Grümmer as Marschallin and Kurt Böhme as Ochs, the Dortmunder Philharmoniker conducted by Wilhelm Schüchter. In 1965 she joined the roster of principal singers at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, where she sang through 1970, and then later returned often as a guest artist. She also appeared as a freelance artist with the Oper Frankfurt, the Hamburg State Opera, the Cologne Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and the Vienna State Opera during the 1960s and 1970s.
In the mid 1960s Żylis-Gara began to become a major presence on the international stage, beginning in 1965 with her debut at the Glyndebourne Festival as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier. She later returned to that festival in 1967 to sing Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni. In 1966 she performed for the first time at the Palais Garnier in Paris which led to a contract with the Opéra National de Paris through 1969. The year 1968 proved to be a banner year for Żylis-Gara. She made her London's Royal Opera House debut as Violetta in Verdi's La traviata and sang Donna Elvira for her debuts at the Salzburg Festival in the summer, the San Francisco Opera on November 8, and her Metropolitan Opera debut on December 17.
Rudolf Bing, General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera House, was highly impressed with Żylis-Gara's debut performance and offered her a long term contract with the company beginning in January 1970 with the role of Pamina in Mozart's The Magic Flute. She remained on the Met roster for the next 14 seasons, portraying such roles as Countess Almaviva in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Amelia in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly, Desdemona in Verdi's Otello, Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhäuser, Elsa in his Lohengrin, Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte, Leonora in Verdi's Il trovatore, Liù in Puccini's Turandot, Marguerite in Gounod's Faust, Mimì in Puccini's La bohème, Octavian, Tatiana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Violetta, and the title roles in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, and Puccini's Suor Angelica and Tosca. Her final and 233rd performance at the Met was in the title role of Puccini's Manon Lescaut on March 31, 1984 with Vasile Moldoveanu as Des Grieux, Allan Monk as Lescaut, and Nello Santi conducting.
In the 1970s Żylis-Gara continued to work as a freelance artist while the Met was her principal home. She was particularly active at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Vienna State Opera. She sang annually at the London's Royal Opera House from 1976 to 1980. She was also a soloist at La Scala in Milan, Teatr Wielki in Warsaw, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. She also performed in operas in Vienna, Hamburg, Amsterdam, and Miami.
Żylis-Gara was made a doctor honoris causa of Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in 2003. She resides in Monaco since 1980.

Recordings

Teresa Żylis-Gara has been recorded in opera, concert and Lied: in WorldCat. Recordings include the songs by Chopin and songs by Karol Szymanowski, the title role in Massenet's Manon, the part of the composer in Ariadne auf Naxos by Strauss, Mosè in Egitto by Gioachino Rossini, Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni, and Elisabeth in Don Carlo. She recorded Mozart's Requiem with Wolfgang Gönnenwein. In 1966 she recorded Bach cantatas with the Windsbacher Knabenchor, conducted by Hans Thamm, including Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten, BWV 93. She is heard in the 1968 Gönnenwein recording of Bach's St Matthew Passion. She was the soprano soloist in a 1969 recording of the St Matthew Passion with Peter Schreier, Hermann Prey, Margarita Lilowa, Max van Egmond, played by RAI National Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Claudio Abbado. A performance of Donizetti's Anna Bolena, broadcast from Cologne by West German Radio in 1967, featured Żylis-Gara in the title role, Karl Ridderbusch, Vera Little, Gene Ferguson, Wolfgang Anheißer, Barbara Scherler and Werner Hollweg under Alberto Erede, and has been reissued on CD.
In 1986, she recorded live Bach cantatas including Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199, at the inauguration of the Théâtre La Colonne in Miramas, conducted by Dominique Debart.