Wojtek Gierlach

Polish bass Wojtek Gierlach is a much in-demand singer with a wide-ranging career that has seen him perform at major venues across the world. His recent performances include role debuts as Sparafucile Rigoletto, Parson The Cunning Little Vixen and Procida in David Pountney’s new production of Les vêpres siciliennes for Welsh National Opera with Carlo Rizzi.

Also at WNO, Rocco Fidelio, Giorgio I Puritani and Alidoro La Cenerentola, the latter a role he has also performed to great acclaim at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Deutsche Oper Berlin and Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville. In concert, he appeared with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in Dvořák’s Stabat Mater and with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in Verdi’s Requiem.

His other previous engagements include Priest Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at Covent Garden with Antonio Pappano, Talbot Maria Stuarda at Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Rocco and Conte Rodolfo Sonnambula in St Gallen, Oroveso Norma with the Teatre Principal Palma, a role he previously sang at the Teatro National de São Carlos Lisbon, and Melisso Alcina (alongside Joyce DiDonato) with Harry Bicket and The English Concert at the Barbican, Carnegie Hall, Théâtre des Champs- Élysées and Theater an der Wien, and in productions at the Royal Danish Opera and the Opéra National de Bordeaux, as well as Giorgio I Puritani and Alidoro at Danish National Opera, Don Basilio Il barbiere di Siviglia with Deutsche Oper Berlin, Assur Semiramide at Royal Danish Opera, Mustafa L’Italiana in Algeri at Minnesota Opera, Orbazzano Tancredi in Seville, Leuthold Guillaume Tell, Sydney and Profondo Il viaggio a Reims at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, and Leporello Don Giovanni with Nico Opera Cape Town. In Warsaw, for the Polish National Opera, he performed Gessler Guillaume Tell, Talbot, Colline La Bohème, Figaro Il barbiere di Siviglia, Raimondo Lucia di Lammermoor, Duce Alfonso Lucrezia Borgia, and Escamillo Carmen.

Wojtek is also much in demand as a concert performer, in repertoire spanning from the Baroque era to contemporary music. His performances at major venues across the world including the Dettingen Te Deum, Saul and Elijah at the Warsaw National Philharmonic Concert Hall, Bach Magnificat at the Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, Bruckner Te Deum and Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast and Missa solemnis with Helmuth Rilling at Konzerthaus Berlin, Salieri’s The Passion of Jesus Christ with Solisti Veneti and Claudio Scimone and Rossini’s Stabat Mater with the Orquesta del Principado de Asturias and Alberto Zedda. He performed Penderecki’s music under the baton of the composer, and has sung works including his Polish Requiem, Seven Gates of Jerusalem and Credo, plus a special performance of Penderecki’s Dies Irae with the Simon Bolivar Orchestra in Caracas.

Wojtek’s wide range of recordings includes Mose in Egitto and La Donna del Lago, Meyerbeer’s Semiramide with Richard Bonynge, Penderecki’s Magnificat and Janacek’s Glagolithic Mass (all on the Naxos label), G.S. Mayr’s Medea in Corinto, Luigi Mosca’s L’Italiana inAlgieri, Cherubini’s Lodoïska and Weber’s Euryanthe (both for Poslkie Radio), Guillaume Tell with Michele Mariotti for Deutsche Grammophon, and a live recording of the world premiere of Il dissoluto punito by Ramón Carnice, conducted by Alberto Zedda. He has won prizes in numerous international vocal competitions, including at the Francesco Viñas Competition in Barcelona. Most recently, he has sung Procida at Opera Bergen, Melisso at Los Angeles Opera with Harry Bicket and Timur Turandot at the Opera Krakowska. Last year’s opera engagements include Sarastro Magic Flute at Warsaw National Opera and this year he sang Osmin The Abduction from the Seraglio at ABAO – Bilbao, before returning to Welsh National Opera for Talpa and Simone in ‘Il Trittico’. He sings the same in the WNO autumn tour as well as opening the Teatr Wielki season with Tortebat in a new production of Penederecki’s ‘The Black Mask’ directed by Sir David Pountney.

Future concerts include Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass with RTVE Madrid, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Warsaw National Philharmonics and Verdi’s Requiem with Krakow Philharmonics.