Opera Singer - Pawel Izdebski

The 2018 Twin Cities Polish Festival is happy to announce a new performer to this year’s festival. Bassist Pawel Izdebski will be performing at the St. Anthony Main Theatre (the same location as the Chopin Celebration Concerts).

Born in Poland, Pawel Izdebski moved with his family to Boston, USA as a child. He completed his formal studies graduating with magna cum laude from The University of Massachusetts, Lowell and went to receive his Master’s Degree of Arts in Voice Performance from The New England Conservatory in Boston. In the summer of 1987 he attended The Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California where he made his operatic debut as Colline in La Boheme. Pawel Izdebski is a 1995 European prize-winner of the 5th International Luciano Pavarotti Voice Competition in Modena, Italy. He has sung with such well known stars as Pavarotti, Cappucilli, Obratzova, Araiza, Dvorsky, Vargas, Salminen and others.

Pawel Izdebski – Opera Singer

Pawel Izdebski began his professional engagement in 1989 at Lincoln Center in Philip Glass’ Fall of the House of Usher. From 1989 – 2001 he was a member of the Zurich International Opera Studio, where he was engaged by Zürich Opera to appear in various productions, including Il Trovatore and Un Ballo In Maschera conducted by Nello Santi, as well as in Eugene Onegin and Die Zauberflöte with Ralf Weikert. He moved to Germany in 1991 when he joined the ensemble as a soloist at the Stadttheater Koblenz. From 1996 – 2004 he was engaged by the Staatstheater Meiningen, where he sang major bass roles, such as : Rocco (Fidelio), Osmin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Leporello (Don Giovanni), Daland (Der Fliegende Holländer), König Marke (Tristan und Isolde), Dulcamara (L’elisir d’Amore), Wasserman (Rusalka), Boris (Lady Macbeth von Mzensk). He received great acclaim for his portrayal of Baron Ochs (Der Rosenkavalier) which he sang opposite Elina Garanca and for his Fasold & Hunding in Christine Mielitz’ celebrated 2001 Meiningen RING production with Kyril Petrenko. During this period he was a regular guest singing major bass roles at well-known Summer Festivals such as Tangelwood, Baden-Baden, Heidenheim and Bad Hersfeld as well as leading Opera houses. Pawel Izdebski has toured extensively throughout Europe, the USA and Japan. His many guest appearances include Kalman Zsupan (Der Zigeunerbaron) with the Opera Ireland in Dublin, Angelotti (Tosca) at the Opera de Nancy, world premiere of Karetnikov’s Till Eulenspigel at the Opera de Nantes, Zaccarias ( Nabucco) with the State Opera Prague and Cracow, Ramfis (Aida) and Timur (Turandot) at the Malmö Musik Teater in Sweden, Zaccharias (Nabucco) in Holland, Oroviso (Norma) in Belgium and Holland, Old Gypsy (Aleko) in Boston and Don Pasquale (Don Pasquale) in Cleveland, USA. He sang Gran Sacerdote (Nabucco) together with Leo Nucci and Renato Bruson at the Avenches Opera Festival, Switzerland.

His repertoire encompasses many Verdi and Wagner roles. He has appeared at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia Opera House in Valencia in the roles of Gurnemanz/Titurel in Kurt Maazel/ Werner Herzog’s production of Parsifal, and Dos Soldados (Salome) with Zubin Mehta. He has also covered/sang all the bass roles in the highly acclaimed 2011 Valencia’s Zubin Mehta/Fura dels Baus Wagner’s RING production with Placido Domingo and Hagen (Götterdämmerung) in the Mehta/Fura dels Baus production in Maggio Musicale in Florence.

He appeared as King Mark (Tristan und Isolde) in Los Angeles, Ramfis (Aida) in France and Germany and most recently in Lohengrin in Zürich.

Pawel Izdebski is well known for his portrayal of Baron Ochs (Der Rosenkavalier), a role that seems natural for him and which he has successfully sung on tour in Spain, with Zubin Mehta in Florence, with Jeffrey Tate at Teatro Real in Madrid and during a live world-wide broadcast at the Indiana University Opera Theater.

Pawel Izdebski with Placido Domingo

Pawel enjoys singing regularly in his homeland Poland where he has performed the roles of Hunding in August Everding’s production of Die Walküre, Philip (Don Carlos), Ramfis (Aida), Doctor in the highly controversial Krzysztof Warlikowski’s Wozzeck and Pimen in Mariusz Trelinski’s 2009 new production of Boris Godunov at Teatr Wielki, the National Theater in Warsaw. He appeared as both Fasolt and Hagen in Hans Peter Lehmann/ Ewa Michnik Super Productions: Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung in Wroclaw as well as Landgraf (Tannhauser), Banco (Macbeth) in Poznan and Rocco (Fidelio) in Szczecin.

Future engagements include Skoluba (Straszny Dwor) in London, Turandot in Zurich, Sarastro (Die Zauberflote), Pimen (Boris Godunov), Fafner, Hunding and Hagen (Ring) in USA.

In addition to his opera repertoire, Pawel Izdebski is equally at home on the concert stage. He has performed many of the great orchestral and vocal works and has received special notice for his performances in German and Slavic repertoire. He has appeared in many concerts throughout Germany with the Rheinische Philharmonie, sang Bruckner’s Te Deum with the Nürnberger Symphony and Wagner’s Rienzi with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and in Stuttgart with the Stuttgarter Liederkranz in the concert rendition of Verdi’s I Lombardi.

Other performances included Mahler’s Eight Symphony in Göttingen and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

He is well known for his interpretation of Verdi’s Requiem, which he has successfully performed with Kazimierz Kord in Poland, with Opera Bergen in Norway; National Symphony Orchestra in Mexico City, Albany Symphony Orchestra in Albany, N.Y., and together with Peter Dvorsky in the Chech Republic and Francisco Araiza in Fussen, Germany. Together with the Kanazawa Symphony Orchestra he has performed in many concerts throughout Japan.

Pawel Izdebski as Pimen in Boris Godunov

Pawel Izdebski has gained international reputation for a voice of beautiful timbre, a range extending from the lowest bass notes well into the baritone, an effective stage presence, expressive acting, along with solid musicianship – and the ability to make each role a memorable musical experience.

The German magazine Das Opernglas praised him for his ‘noble Hagen sung with elegance – a singer on his way to a great career.’ Visit Pawel’s website for more information.