Stefania Toczyska

Stefania Toczyska (née Krzywinska), born in Grudziądz, Poland, on February 19, 1943, is a Polish mezzo-soprano of international repute.

She lived in Toruń where she attended the Music School (littleconservatory). There she married Romuald Toczyski, a music teacher. She moved in 1968 with her family to Gdańsk in order to pursue her higher education. There she studied singing in the Higher Music School (the subsequent Academy of Music) in the class of Barbara Iglikowska, receiving her final diploma (with distinction) in 1973. But even before that, during studies, she was building her career by winning awards in international vocal competitions in Toulouse (1971), Paris (1972) and 's-Hertogenbosch (1973).

Her debut occurred in 1973 on the stage of the Baltic State Opera House in Gdańsk in the title role in "Carmen" and her fame and prestige grows accordingly.

Initially her activity was centered locally in Gdansk, where she kept position as the leading soloist in the Baltic State Opera, making also frequent guast visits to other opera houses. In 1975 The Baltic State Opera produced, especially for her, "Samson et Dalila" in 1975 (that same production showed also the next year in Warsaw), and "La Favorita" by Donizetti in 1978 (also showed in Bremen the next year).

Her first debut outside of Poland took place in Basel when she sung the role of Amneris in Aida in 1977. Soon after, with her international career strongly established, she gave the farewell performance in Gdansk on July 15, 1979 as Dalila, quitting working regularly for the Baltic State Opera, eventually moving out of Poland and establishing her permanent residency in Vienna, her career centered from now on in Staatsoper.

From there she made frequent guest visits to sing on stages of various opera houses around the world, and including her native country, particularly at Teatr Wielki, Warsaw.

On September 16, 1979 she made her American stage debut in the San Francisco Opera, as Laura in "La Gioconda" [ [http://archive.sfopera.com/qry3webcastview.asp?key=8554 Toczyska's San Francisco debut] ] (with Renata Scotto and Luciano Pavarotti), which was telecast live around the world. She made her first appearance at Royal Opera House in 1983 (as Amneris in Aida), and also sang at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

In 1988, Toczyska made her Metropolitan Opera debut, as Marfa in Mussourgsky's "Khovanshchina" [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE7DB113CF937A15751C0A96E948260&scp=4&sq=Toczyska&st=cse Khovanshchina in New York] ] [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B07E6D81439F930A35750C0A967948260&scp=29&sq=Toczyska&st=cse Khovanshchina in New York] ] . She went on to sing there in "Aida", "Il trovatore", "La Gioconda", "Boris Godunov" (as Marina Mnichek), "Un ballo in maschera" (as Ulrica), "Rusalka" (as Jezibaba) and "Adriana Lecouvreur" (as the Princesse de Bouillon), with her last performance there in 1997.

Her discography includes recordings of "Il trovatore" (asAzucena, opposite Katia Ricciarelli, José Carreras and Yuri Mazurok, conducted by Sir Colin Davis, 1980) and Prokofiev's War and Peace (with Galina Vishnevskaya, conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich, 1986).

Her latest roles were in "King Roger" (Warsaw, 2004) and Prokofiev's "Gambler" (as Babulenka) (in Berlin, 2008) [ [http://www.operatoday.com/content/2008/04/barenboim_and_b.php Berenboim in Berlin (note on Toczyska)] ] .

Notes

References

* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE5DE1E3AF932A35750C0A96E948260 Stefania Toczyska's Operatic Odyssey, NYT Archives]
* [http://www.amuz.gda.pl/NewFiles/Absolwenci50lecia.pdf List of alumni of Gdansk Music Academy, Miss Toczyska listed under Krzywinska-Toczyska]
* [http://archive.sfopera.com/reports/rptOpera-id703.pdf San Francisco Opera database entry]