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The Polish-born bass, Pawel Izdebski, moved with his family to Boston, USA as a child. He completed his formal studies graduating with magna cum laude from The University of Massachusetts, Lowell and went to receive his Master’s Degree of Arts in Voice Performance from The New England Conservatory in Boston. In the summer of 1987 he attended the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California where he made his operatic debut as Colline in La Boheme. He continued his studies as a member of the International Opera Studio in Zürich, Switzerland and has studied with a number of notable teachers including Armin Boyajian, Otto Edelmann, Arrigo Pola and Manfred Schenk. He is a 1995 European prize-winner of winner of the 5th International Luciano Pavarotti Voice Competition in Modena, Italy. He has sung with such well-known stars as Pavarotti, Cappucilli, Obratzova, Francisco Araiza, Dvorsky, Vargas and Matti Salminen.
Pawel Izdebski began his professional engagement in 1989 at Lincoln Center in Philip Glass’ Fall of the House of Usher. From 1989 to 2001 he was a member of the Zürich International Opera Studio, where he was engaged by Zürich Opera to appear in various productions, including Il Trovatore and Un Ballo In Maschera conducted by Nello Santi, as well as in Eugene Onegin and W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte conducted by Ralf Wekert. He moved to Germany in 1991 when he joined the ensemble as a soloist at the Stadttheater Koblenz. From 1996 to 2004 he was engaged by the Staatstheater Meiningen, where he sang major bass roles, such as :
and from 1996 to 2004 at the Staatstheater Meiningen. He has sung almost all major bass roles: Rocco in L.v. Beethoven's Fidelio, Colline, Osmin in W.A. Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Leporello in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni, Daland in Der Fliegende Holländer, König Marke in Tristan und Isolde, Dulcamara in L’elisir d’Amore, Wasserman in Rusalka, Boris in Dmitri Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth von Mzensk, Frank in Die Fledermaus, Fasold in Das Rheingold and his acclaimed portrayals of Dr. Bartolo in Barbiere di Seviglia and of Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier and He received great acclaim for his portrayal of Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier which he sang opposite Elina Garanca and for his Fasold & Hunding in Christine Mielitz’ celebrated 2001 Meiningen RING production with Kyril Petrenko.
During this period Pawel Izdebski was a regular guest singing major bass roles at well-known Summer Festivals such as Tangelwood, Baden-Baden, Heidenheim and Bad Hersfeld as well as leading Opera houses. He has toured extensively throughout Europe, the USA and Japan. His many guest appearances include Kalman Zsupan in Der Zigeunerbaron with the Opera Irland in Dublin, Angelotti in Tosca at the Opera de Nancy, world premiere of Karetnikov’s Till Eulenspigel at the Opera de Nantes, Zaccarias in Nabucco with the State Opera Prague and Cracow, Ramfis in Aida and Timur in Turandot at the Malmö Musik Teater in Sweden, Zaccharias in Nabucco in Holland, Oroviso in Norma in Belgium and Holland, Old Gypsy in Aleko in Boston and Don Pasquale in Don Pasquale in Cleveland, USA, the Speaker in Die Zauberflöte at the Bershire Opera Festival, as part of the Tangelwood Festival, Ferrando in Il Trovatore in the Summer 1997 Festival Baden-Baden, Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Lodovico in Otello in Nordhausen, Hunding in Die Walküre, Philip in Don Carlos and Ramfis in Aida at the National Theater in Warsaw, for which he received high critical praise. He has appeared regularly at the Heidenheim and Bad Hersfeld Summer Festivals.
Pawel Izdebski's repertoire encompasses many Verdi and Wagner roles. He has appeared at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia Opera House in Valencia in the roles of Gurnemanz/Titurel in Lorin Maazel/Werner Herzog’s production of Parsifal (November 2008), and Dos Soldados in Salome with Zubin Mehta. He has also covered/sang all the bass roles in the highly acclaimed 2011 Valencia’s Zubin Mehta/Fura dels Baus Wagner’s RING production with Placido Domingo and Hagen in Götterdämmerung in the Zubin Mehta/Fura dels Baus production in Maggio Musicale in Florence. He appeared as King Mark in Tristan und Isolde in Los Angeles, Ramfis in Aida in France and Germany and most recently in Lohengrin in Zürich. He is well known for his portrayal of Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier, a role that seems natural for him and which he has successfully sung on tour in Spain, with Zubin Mehta in Florence, with Jeffrey Tate at Teatro Real in Madrid and during a live world-wide broadcast at the Indiana University Opera Theater.
Pawel Izdebski enjoys singing regularly in his homeland Poland where he has performed the roles of Hunding in August Everding’s production of Die Walküre, Philip in Don Carlos, Ramfis in Aida, Doctor in the highly controversial Krzysztof Warlikowski’s Alban Berg's Wozzeck at the National Theater in Warsaw, and Pimen in Mariusz Trelinski’s 2009 new production of Boris Godunov at Teatr Wielki, the National Theater in Warsaw. He appeared as both Fasolt and Hagen in Hans Peter Lehmann/ Ewa Michnik Super Productions: Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung in Wroclaw (October 2006), as well as Landgraf in Tannhauser, Banco in Macbeth in Poznan and Rocco in Fidelio in Szczecin. He sang Gran Sacerdote together with Leo Nucci and Renato Bruson in Nabucco at the renowned Music Festival in Avenches, Switzerland (July 2005), at the National Theater in Warsaw, toured Spain with Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier.
Future engagements include Skoluba in Straszny Dwor in London, Turandot in Zürich, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, Pimen in Boris Godunov, Fafner, Hunding and Hagen in Der Ring des Nibelungen in USA.
In addition to his opera repertoire, Pawel Izdebski is equally at home on the concert stage. He has performed many of the great orchestral and vocal works and has received special notice for his performances in German and Slavic repertoire. He has appeared in many concerts throughout Germany with the Rheinische Philharmonie, has sung Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in Göttingen and Hammeln and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Dvorak’s Requiem in Bad Hersfels. He is well known for his interpretation of Verdi’s Requiem, which he has sung with Kazimierz Kord in Poland, with Opera Bergen in Norway, as well as, with the National Symphony Orchestra in Mexico City, and the Albany Symphony in Albany, New York. He has also performed this work, together with Peter Dvorsky in the Chech Republic and Francisco Araiza in Fussen, Germany. He has sung Bruckner’s Te Deum with the Nürnberger Symphoniker and Wagner’s Rienzi with the Münchner Philharmoniker. He has toured throughout Japan with the Kanazawa Symphony Orchestra and recently performed in Stuttgart with the Stuttgarter Liederkranz in the concert rendition of Verdi’s I Lombardi.
Using all the advantages of a top singer: an impressive voice of beautiful timbre, a range extending from the lowest bass notes well into the baritone range, effective stage presence, expressive acting and solid musicianship allow Pawel Izdebski to make each of his roles into a remarkable and memorable musical experience. The German magazine Das Opernglas praised him for his ‘noble Hagen sung with elegance – a singer on his way to a great career.’ Visit Pawel’s website for more information. |
