Teresa Żylis-Gara (2003)

An outstanding Polish soprano and teacher, she was born in 1930 in Landwarów near Vilnius and died on 28 August 2021. After World War II, she moved with her family to Łódź. Initially, she attended a general secondary school and, at the same time, a secondary music school – her first singing teacher was Stefania Grabowska. Between 1952 and 1957, she studied at the State Higher School of Music in Łódź in Olga Olgina's class. She was awarded the title of professor of art in 1999.

Winning the National Competition for Young Vocalists in Warsaw (1953) gave her her first engagement. She made her debut at the Krakow Opera as Halka in Stanisław Moniuszko's Halka in 1958. In the same year, she won second prize at the International Vocal Competition in Toulouse. Another success, third prize at the International Music Competition in Munich (1960), opened the doors to German opera houses such as Oberhausen, Dortmund and Düsseldorf. The real breakthrough in her career came with performances in Paris in 1966 and at the Mozart Festival in Salzburg in 1968. In 1968, she made her debut at the famous Covent Garden in London, and from 1969 onwards, for sixteen seasons, she performed a number of major leading opera roles at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. At the same time, she made guest appearances at the most famous opera houses in Europe, including La Scala in Milan.

Teresa Żylis-Gara's repertoire was vast and included as many as 24 major roles in operas by Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Strauss, Giacomo Puccini, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and others. Her partners on stage were the greatest opera artists, such as Carlo Bergonzi, Franco Corelli, Placido Domingo, Mikołaj Giaurow, Sherrill Milnes, Luciano Pavarotti, Jon Vickers and many others. She also performed a repertoire of songs, with a particular fondness for the music of Polish composers. Żylis-Gara, who lived in Monaco from 1980 to 2021, was a frequent guest at international competitions and vocal courses organised around the world.

She recorded for renowned record labels such as Deutsche Grammophon, EMI, Harmonia Mundi, Erato and Polskie Nagrania ‘Muza’. Her recordings include great operatic works (including Don Giovanni by W. A. Mozart, Le Roi Arthus by E. Chausson's Le Roi Arthus, R. Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos), oratorio music (J. S. Bach's St Matthew Passion, A. Dvořák's Requiem, G. Verdi's Messa da Requiem), as well as songs by F. Chopin, S. Moniuszko and E. Lalo. She has received many awards and distinctions in recognition of her artistic activity. These include the Commander's Cross (2000) and the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2011), the Gloria Artis Gold Medal for Merit to Culture (2005) and the Officer's Cross of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic (2012). She was also awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of the City of Łódź (2020).