Wanda Wermińska

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Wanda Wermińska (1934)

Wanda Wermińska (born November 18, 1900 - August 30, 1988 ) was a Polish opera singer (soprano, mezzo-soprano).

Life

Wermińska, discovered by the conductor Artur Rodziński , made her debut in 1923 with great success as an opera singer at the Teatr Wielki as Amneris in Verdi's Aida . For the role of Carmen in Bizet's opera, she took dance lessons from the flamenco dancer La Argentina . In operas such as The Troubadour , A Masked Ball , Don Carlos , Fidelio , Le nozze di Figaro , Andrea Chénier , Lohengrin , Tannhäuser , Die Walküre and Halka , she took on more than forty roles in mezzo-soprano and soprano in the 1920s.

In 1929 Wermińska left Poland and made guest appearances in Vienna, Berlin, Bucharest, Prague, Riga, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Milan, Rome, Venice, Madrid and Alexandria. In Budapest she appeared alongside Fyodor Chalyapin in Faust , whom she invited to appear in Boris Godunov at several European theaters.

During the Second World War, Wermińska lived in South America, where she had engagements in Argentina ( Teatro Colón ), Brazil, Chile and Mexico, under the conductors Bruno Walter , Fritz Busch and Wilhelm Furtwängler and with soloists such as Kirsten Flagstad , Maria Caniglia and Fedora Barbieri , Beniamino Gigli , Lily Pons and Mario del Monaco performed.

In 1947 she returned to Poland, where she continued to perform as an opera and concert singer, also on radio and television, and worked as a music teacher. She enjoyed a high reputation as the "mother of Polish opera".

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