Voice 2022 – Aria Division
Soprano
2022: Canadian-Polish soprano Karoline Podolak comes to the 2022 Concours after a whirlwind year of international competition wins. In 2021 alone, she took First Prize at the Polish Academy of Music Tournament and both First Prize and Audience Prize at the XVII Great Tenor Gala in Poland, and was a semifinalist at the Concorso Lirico Internazionale di Portofino in Italy.
The Toronto-born soprano attended Ryerson University’s Radio and Television Arts School of Media before pursuing a degree in opera studies at the K. Szymanowski Academy of Music in Poland.
Podolak made her operatic debut at Poland’s Silesian Opera House, premiering Moniusko’s Verbum Nobile and later returning to sing the adventurous Adele in Die Fledermaus. This season she debuted at Sofia Opera and Ballet as Violetta in La traviata, and as Zerlina in Don Giovanni at Teatro Coccia in Italy.
Training
2019-2021: Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland, Master’s Degree
2011-2015: Ryerson University, Bachelor’s Degree
Principal Teachers
- Kinga Mitrowska, 2016-present
- Ewa Biegas, 2019-2021
- Grzegorz Biegas, 2019-2021
Prizes and Awards
- 2022: Encouragement Award winner at the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Great Lakes Region Finals
- 2022: Award winner at the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Buffalo/Toronto
- 2021: Winner of seven prizes, Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques, Montréal
- 2021: First Prize, Polish Academy of Music Tournament, Łódź
- 2021: Audience Prize/First Prize, XVII Great Tenor Gala Festival, Ciechocinek, Poland
Programme
FIRST ROUND (with piano)
AMBROISE THOMAS Je suis Titania
(Mignon)
KAROL SZYMANOWSKI Pieśń Roksany
(King Roger)
GIACOMO MEYERBEER Ombre légère(The Pilgrimage of Ploërmel)
Karoline Podolak is generously sponsored by Janine Bombardier & Sadok Besrour.
