The Polish counter-tenor, Artur [Arthur] Stefanowicz, studied at the Chopin-Musikakademie Warschau with Jerzy Artysz and Jadwiga Rappé. In 1990 he won the first prize for the best counter-tenor at the Mozart-Gesangswettbewerb (Mozart singing competition) in Vienna.
Artur Stefanowicz is one of a growing crop of Polish counter-tenors. Since 1991 he sings frequently in Poland and abroad, among other things in Paris at the Opera Comique, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées an the Théâtre du Châtelet, in Berlin at the Deutschen Staatsoper and the Komischen Oper, at the English National Opera (as Xerxes and in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice), at the New York City Opera (also in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice), at the Warsaw's and the Budapest's Kammeroper, at the Opera Houses of Miami, Strasbourg, Dublin, Enschede, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Salamanca, Bilbao, at the Berliner Philharmonie, at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, at the Warsaw's Philharmonie, as well as at importans music festivals such as Aix-en-Provence, London, Glyndebourne, Palermo, Massachusetts, Mörbisch, Innsbruck, Montreux, Bratislava or Flanders. He also appeared as a guest at the Hallenser Händel-Festspielen. He has co-operated with conductors as William Christie, René Jacobs, Leopold Hager, Philip Pickett, Philippe Entremont, Roy Goodman, Sir Charles Mackerras, Michael Hofstetter, Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Andrey Boreyko.
Artur Stefanowicz sang amazingly many George Frideric Handel parts: the title roles in Tamerlano and Orlando, Arsamene in Serse, Polinesso in Ariodante, Tolomeo in Giulio Cesare in Egitto, Unulfo in Rodelinda as wekll as Didymus in the oratorio Theodora. In addition should be mentioned: Ottone in Monteverdi's L’incoronazione di Poppea, Domiziano in Cesti's Il Tito, Ascanio and Farnace in W.A. Mozart's operas Ascanio in Alba and Mitridate, Re di Ponto, Ottone in Alessandro Scarlatti's Griselda, Orlofsky in Fledermaus and Baba the Turk in Igor Stravinsky's The Rake’s Progress.
Artur Stefanowicz's recordings include: Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine for Erato, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's and Antonio Vivaldi's Stabat Mater for POLmusic-Elysium, Orlofsky in Fledermaus for BMG-Arte Nova Classics, CD entitled Arias From Forgotten Mozart Works for Polskie Nagrania, as well as cantatas of G.F. Handel and A. Vivaldi for Koch Classics. The performance of Rodelinda at the Glyndebourne Festival was recorded and filmed on video for NVC ARTS. |