The winner of the 7th International Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition is Eliza Kruszczyńska. The jury decided to award her the Maria Fołtyn Grand Prix of 15,000 euros.
Eliza Kruszczyńska is 34. She is a graduate of the Academy of Music in Pescara but started singing relatively recently, previously having studied the violin at the Conservatorio Alfredo Casella L’Aquila. In the competition she represented both Poland and Italy, where she lives.
In the female singers category, the jury awarded the following prizes:
1st prize (10,000 euros) - Aleksandra Kubas (Poland)
2nd prize (8,000 euros) - Gelena Gaskarova (Russia)
3rd prize (6,000 euros) - Katarzyna Oleś-Blacha (Poland)
In the male singers category, the prize-winners are:
1st prize (10,000 euros) - Yury Haradzetski (Belarus)
2nd prize (8,000 euros) - Adam Palka (Poland)
3rd prize (6,000 euros) - Andriy Bondarenko (Ukraine)
The prize from the management of the Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera, in the form of participation in an opera production by the Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera, preceded by a period of rehearsals, went to Anna Bernacka (Poland)
The Marcella Sembrich-Kochańska Prize went to Erika Buchholz (USA)
The other special prizes are as follows: Józefina Reszke Prize for the best soprano or mezzo-soprano – Eliza Kruszczyńska
Jan Reszke Prize for the best tenor – Yury Haradzetski
Edward Reszke Prize for the best baritone or bass – Andriy Bondarenko
The Kościuszko Foundation’s Prize for the best Polish participant in international repertoire – Agnieszka Tomaszewska
The Kościuszko Foundation’s Prize for the best foreign participant in foreign repertoire – Yury Haradzetski
The Royal Castle’s Prize for the youngest participant in stage three – Andriy Bondarenko
The jury reached these decisions after analysing the finalists’ scores and thoroughly discussing the individual results of each finalist. The jury worked at plenary sessions, and were joined in stage three by Ioan Hollender, director of the Staastoper in Vienna.
In addition, the jury chairman Wiesław Ochman funded his own prize of 1,500 euros for the best performance of a Verdi aria. The prize went to Maria Bulgakova from Russia, who sang Desdemona’s song and prayer from act 4 of Otello in stage two.
The director of the Baltic Opera funded a prize for the most original stage personality; the prize is an opportunity to take part in a production by this theatre. The prize went to Magdalena Wór from Poland.
The winner of the prize awarded by the Trubadur Polish Opera Lovers’ Club for the best performance of an opera aria is Eliza Kruszczyńska. She received the prize for her interpretation of an aria from Madame Butterfly in stage two.
The Bogna Sokorska Foundation’s Prize for the best coloratura voice - Aleksandra Kubas
The Polish Music Association’s Prize for a foreign finalist for the best performance of a Polish aria or song - Galina Gaskarova
The Karol Namysłowski Symphony Orchestra in Zamość’s Prize for the best Polish soprano and the best Polish tenor - Agnieszka Tomaszewska and Maciej Ufniak
A hundred singers from over 20 countries took part in the 7th International Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition. The contest involved three stages, 13 entrants qualified for the final stage.
See the pictures
19-28 May 2010
Honorary patrons of the competition:
President of Poland Lech Kaczyński and First Lady Maria Kaczyńska
Primate Senior of Poland Cardinal Józef Glemp
Mayor of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz
Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bogdan Zdrojewski
Minister of Culture of the Republic of Belarus Pavel Latushka
The Organizers of the Competition:
Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera in Warsaw
The Moniuszko Music Lovers Society
Competition subsidized by Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
Waldemar Dąbrowski
General Director of the Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera
Mariusz Treliński
Artistic Director
Maria Fołtyn
Founder and Artistic Director
Grzegorz Chełmecki - Managing Director of the Competition,
Deputy General Director of the Polish National Opera
Małgorzata Gmys - Creative Director of the Competition
Jacek Marczyński - Press Spokesperson of the Competition
Barbara Czerbniak - General Director Proxy of the Competition
The Qualifying Committee:
Maria Fołtyn
Krystyna Szostek-Radkowa
Kazimierz Pustelak
Competition Schedule
Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872) was, apart from Chopin, the most outstanding composer of 19th-century Polish music. Whereas Chopin rose to great heights in piano music, Moniuszko’s principal achievements lay in songs (in which field he was dubbed the “Polish Schubert”) and opera to which he was a leading contributor. Greatly talented and well educated - like Chopin - he endowed his music with its uniquely Polish character and became an educator of the Polish nation, helping its society to survive the perilous years of foreign occupation. His works have become firmly embedded in the Polish psyche and remain powerful in their artistic expression. Reflecting on Moniuszko’s creative talent, the contemporary avant-garde composer Bogusław Schaeffer aptly said that “the heights to which he rose could only be attained by the most talented and as such, he was a composer of European standing”.
Witold Rudziński
The 7th International Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition coincides with the celebration of the 200th anniversary of Frederic Chopin’s birth
“Chopin’s mazurkas are gems of world music, ‘a stolen folk melody’, loved, cherished, and placed on a level with the grandest art”.
Stanisław Moniuszko
All that Chopin took from his homeland - believed the great Polish writer Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz - was contained in his mazurkas. With their magnificent, proud coda in which a mazurka in minor key transforms into a polonaise in major key, these are short works but great masterpieces nevertheless, and among the most precious works by the great Frederic.
The Competition was held in Warsaw from 19 to 28 May 2010.
Competition Jury
Wiesław Ochman - Chairman of the Jury
Gwendolyn Bradley
Larisa Gergieva
Ioan Holender
Izabella Kłosińska
Raina Kabaivanska
Ewa Michnik
Tom Krause
Stanisław Moryto
Elena Obraztsova
Andrzej Rottermund
Sergio Segalini
Guo Shuzhen
Competition Office
Artistic Director of the Competition
Maria Fołtyn
tel. (+48) 22 69 20 642
Office Manager
Joanna Godlewska-Oleksicka
Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera
Plac Teatralny 1
00-950 Warszawa, Poland
tel. (+48) 22 69 20 564
fax (+48) 22 69 20 548
e-mail: moniuszkocompetition@teatrwielki.pl
Madia patrons of the Competition:
