Zdzisława Donat
Soloist, Soprano
Born in Poznan, Poland, on 06/04/1936. Initially, she studied in Warsaw and continued in Sienna under Gino Bechi. In 1964 she made her debut as Gilda in Rigoletto and later sang in many operas in Europe (Toulouse, Helsinki, Warsaw, Moscow, Munich, Milan, Rome, Prague, Naples, Brussels, Vienna, Salzburg, Berlin, Hamburg , Paris, Verona, Orange), in Buenos Aires and Japan. At the Royal Opera House in London, she interpreted the role of the Queen of the Night [The Magic Flute / Die Zauberflöte ] for four years (1979-1983). She made her debut in the USA interpreting the same role at the San Francisco Opera in 1975 and at the Metropolitan Opera New York in 1981. Her repertoire included the lead and / or main roles in operas such as Lucia di Lammermoor, Child and Spells [L'enfant et les sortilèges], Don Pasquale, The Barber of Seville [Il barbiere di Siviglia], The Sleepwalker [La sonnambula], The Puritans [I puritani], The Fallen Woman [ La traviata], Falstaff , A Masked Ball [Un ballo in maschera], The Tales Of Hoffmann [Les contes d'Hoffmann], King Roger [Król Roger] (Szymanowski), The Golden Cockerel (Rimsky-Korsakov) and Siegfried. In 1980 she participated in the recording of this opera under James Levine for RCA. In 1989 she appeared in the film production (Singspiel) of The Impresario [Der Schauspieldirektor] ( Mozart). She received the honorific title of Kammersängerin for distinguished singers. Since 2009 she is an honorary professor at the University of Music "Frederic Chopin" in Warsaw. She worked once with the Greek National Opera performing the Queen of the Night [The Magic Flute / Die Zauberflöte] (1978-1979, Odeon Herodes Atticus).