Maria Fołtyn (2000)

Singer (dramatic soprano) and opera director born on 28 January 1924 in Radom, died on 2 December 2012 in Warsaw. She began her solo singing lessons in 1945 at a branch of the Gdańsk Institute of Music in Gdańsk-Wrzeszcz, which was transformed in 1946 into the first Secondary Music School in Gdańsk, from which she graduated in 1948. At the same time, she took up vocal studies in Katowice under Adam Didur, and after Didur's death (1946), she studied in Sopot under Ludwig and Wanda Hendrich. In 1949, in Gdańsk, she graduated from Iwo Gall's music and drama studio. After moving to Warsaw, she was a student of Ada Sari (1950-1957). She then took singing lessons with G. Tess in Vercelli (1957) and W. Baumler in Leipzig (1965). From 1969 to 1973 she studied at the Faculty of Directing of the State Higher School of Theatre in Warsaw.

For 20 years (1978-1998) she was the artistic director of the International Moniuszko Festival in Kudowa Zdrój. In 1988 she established and served as president of the Society of Moniuszko Music Lovers in Warsaw. Maria Fołtyn was also the originator, director and juror of the International Vocal Competition named after Stanislaw Moniuszko, which has taken place in Warsaw every three years since 1992. As an opera director, she has realised all of Moniuszko's stage works, as well as making a stage adaptation of the Śpiewnik domowy (Songbook). She has also been invited to sit on the juries of renowned vocal competitions around the world (including Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, Prague, Pretoria and Sicily).

She debuted on the stage of the Silesian Opera in Bytom in 1949 with the title role in Stanisław Moniuszko's opera Halka. From 1949 to 1962, she was a soloist at the Warsaw Opera, making her debut there in the role of Balladyna in Władysław Żeleński's Goplana. From 1962 to 1965 she was a soloist at the Leipzig Opera, and from 1965 to 1967 she performed at the opera houses of Lübeck and Hamburg. On her return to Poland, she took up a position as soloist at the Grand Theatre in Łódź (1967-1970). Her operatic repertoire was very extensive. Among her most outstanding opera roles were those of Moniuszko - Halka, Hanna in The Haunted Manor and the Countess in the opera of the same title. She was also successful in soprano parts in works by G. Puccini (title role in Tosca), P. Tchaikovsky (e.g. Liza in The Queen of Spades), G. Verdi (e.g. title role in Aida) or R. Wagner (e.g. Senta in The Flying Dutchman). She has also given recitals in Poland, many European countries, the United States, Canada and Cuba. She has made radio and CD recordings of music by Stanislaw Moniuszko, Edvard Grieg, Robert Schumann and Franz Schubert, among others.

After ending her singing career (she ended her opera performances in 1971 and her stage performances in 1974), Maria Fołtyn devoted herself to her work as an opera director. Her first staging was S. Moniuszko's Halka, staged in Havana, Cuba, in 1971, which became the basis for further popularisation of the composer's works in Poland and abroad. Halka was staged in Turkey, Mexico, Brazil and Japan, among others. A series of stagings of Polish operas by Karol Kurpiński, Feliks Nowowiejski, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Romuald Twardowski and foreign operas, including Rugger Leoncavallo's Pajace, Pyotr Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades and Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, also began.

Maria Fołtyn was the winner of two international vocal competitions: in 1956 she won the Gold Medal in Vercelli, and in 1957 the Second Prize in Chiavarri. In 1999 she was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of the City of Radom, and in 2012 a monument to the artist was unveiled in front of the building of the Music School Complex in Radom. She was repeatedly awarded and decorated for her merits in the field of culture. She received, among others, the title of Zasłużony dla Kultury Narodowej (Distinguished Service to National Culture), the Prime Minister's Award of the first degree, the Award of the Minister of Culture in the field of music, the Award of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Honorary Award of the Polish Culture Foundation, the Golden Cross of Merit, the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta, the Jan Kiepura Theatre Music Award Golden Sceptre.

In recognition of her outstanding contribution to the development of Polish culture and her achievements in world vocalism, the Senate of the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław awarded the artist the honour of Doctor Honoris Causa in 2000.