Wojciech Dradowicz obituary...

Another tragic passing which I`m surprised has not been on rmo before afaia.
There is an obit in the current Opera mag but here is the UK Independent:
Wojciech Drabowicz
Baritone of lyrical power
Published: 30 April 2007
Wojciech Drabowicz, opera singer: born Poznan, Poland 24 March 1966; married
(two sons); died Poznan 27 March 2007.

The baritone Wojciech Drabowicz should have had many more years of success
in his career. His lyrical voice was still developing power and resonance,
while keeping all the beauty of tone that had been so striking when he won
the Belvedere International Competition in Vienna in 1990. He sang five
different roles at Glyndebourne during the decade from 1994 to 2004 and was
a regular visitor to Brussels, Lyons, Antwerp and Barcelona. His repertory
ranged from Mozart and Rossini to Verdi and Tchaikovsky, but the opera
nearest his heart was King Roger, by his fellow Pole Karol Szymanowski.

Drabowicz was born in Poznan in 1966. For 10 years, from the age of eight,
he sang with the Polish Nightingales, a choir of men and boys that toured
Europe and South America. He graduated from the Poznan Academy of Music in
1990. He had already made his début the year before at the Poznan Opera,
singing the title role of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. He sang at the 1990
Wexford Festival as the journalist Bussy in Leoncavallo's Zaza. The
following year he took part in the Bregenz Festival, as Morales in Carmen.
Meanwhile, in Poznan, his roles included Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Dr
Malatesta in Don Pasquale and Carlos in Verdi's La forza del destino.

During the 1993/94 season Drabowicz sang Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia
in Warsaw and Frankfurt. He made his Glyndebourne début in 1994 as Eugene
Onegin, scoring a great success. The following season he returned to
Glyndebourne to sing Tomsky in The Queen of Spades. This was not quite so
well liked, as the young baritone, still under 30, lacked the authority the
role required. However, in 1996 he sang Onegin again, and the improvement
was quite spectacular: he had always sung Tchaikovsky's music with great
feeling; now he also brought Pushkin's hero to vivid life.

Drabowicz first sang at the Théâtre Royale de la Monnaie in Brussels in
1994, as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. He came back in 1996 to sing the
Father in Kurt Weill's Sieben Todsünden (Seven Deadly Sins). The same year,
he sang the title role of King Roger in a concert performance in Paris at
the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. He returned to Glyndebourne in 1997 for
Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, and again won glowing reviews. In 1998
he took part in the world premiere of Les Trois Soeurs by Peter Eötvös.
Adapted from Chekhov's play, the opera had an all-male cast - the three
sisters were sung by counter-tenors.

Back at Glyndebourne in 2002 he sang the title role in Graham Vick's highly
controversial production of Don Giovanni, and the same year sang the same
role in an equally controversial staging of Mozart's opera by Calixto Bieito
in Barcelona. The Polish National Opera brought King Roger to London in
2004, performing at Sadler's Wells Theatre.

Escamillo in Carmen followed, at Glyndebourne in 2004 and at Antwerp in
2005, then in 2006 Drabowski sang the title role of Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa at
Lyons. Later in the year the production was brought to the Edinburgh
Festival, where it was much praised.

Elizabeth Forbes

Apologies for mis-spelling his surname in my heading.

"MezzomanUK" <trevor(nospam)collins@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:awnli.4597$iE5.2072@fe3.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
> Another tragic passing which I`m surprised has not been on rmo before
afaia.
> There is an obit in the current Opera mag but here is the UK Independent:
> Wojciech Drabowicz
> Baritone of lyrical power
> Published: 30 April 2007
> Wojciech Drabowicz, opera singer: born Poznan, Poland 24 March 1966;
married
> (two sons); died Poznan 27 March 2007.
>
> The baritone Wojciech Drabowicz should have had many more years of success
> in his career. His lyrical voice was still developing power and resonance,
> while keeping all the beauty of tone that had been so striking when he won
> the Belvedere International Competition in Vienna in 1990. He sang five
> different roles at Glyndebourne during the decade from 1994 to 2004 and
was
> a regular visitor to Brussels, Lyons, Antwerp and Barcelona. His repertory
> ranged from Mozart and Rossini to Verdi and Tchaikovsky, but the opera
> nearest his heart was King Roger, by his fellow Pole Karol Szymanowski.
>
> Drabowicz was born in Poznan in 1966. For 10 years, from the age of eight,
> he sang with the Polish Nightingales, a choir of men and boys that toured
> Europe and South America. He graduated from the Poznan Academy of Music in
> 1990. He had already made his début the year before at the Poznan Opera,
> singing the title role of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. He sang at the 1990
> Wexford Festival as the journalist Bussy in Leoncavallo's Zaza. The
> following year he took part in the Bregenz Festival, as Morales in Carmen.
> Meanwhile, in Poznan, his roles included Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Dr
> Malatesta in Don Pasquale and Carlos in Verdi's La forza del destino.
>
> During the 1993/94 season Drabowicz sang Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia
> in Warsaw and Frankfurt. He made his Glyndebourne début in 1994 as Eugene
> Onegin, scoring a great success. The following season he returned to
> Glyndebourne to sing Tomsky in The Queen of Spades. This was not quite so
> well liked, as the young baritone, still under 30, lacked the authority
the
> role required. However, in 1996 he sang Onegin again, and the improvement
> was quite spectacular: he had always sung Tchaikovsky's music with great
> feeling; now he also brought Pushkin's hero to vivid life.
>
> Drabowicz first sang at the Théâtre Royale de la Monnaie in Brussels in
> 1994, as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. He came back in 1996 to sing the
> Father in Kurt Weill's Sieben Todsünden (Seven Deadly Sins). The same
year,
> he sang the title role of King Roger in a concert performance in Paris at
> the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. He returned to Glyndebourne in 1997 for
> Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, and again won glowing reviews. In
1998
> he took part in the world premiere of Les Trois Soeurs by Peter Eötvös.
> Adapted from Chekhov's play, the opera had an all-male cast - the three
> sisters were sung by counter-tenors.
>
> Back at Glyndebourne in 2002 he sang the title role in Graham Vick's
highly
> controversial production of Don Giovanni, and the same year sang the same
> role in an equally controversial staging of Mozart's opera by Calixto
Bieito
> in Barcelona. The Polish National Opera brought King Roger to London in
> 2004, performing at Sadler's Wells Theatre.
>
> Escamillo in Carmen followed, at Glyndebourne in 2004 and at Antwerp in
> 2005, then in 2006 Drabowski sang the title role of Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa
at
> Lyons. Later in the year the production was brought to the Edinburgh
> Festival, where it was much praised.
>
> Elizabeth Forbes
>
>
>