Maria Polanska
Ensemble: (Current) Deutsche Oper am Rhein, (Former) Nationaltheater Mannheim International Opera Studio
Freelancer: Daegu International Opera Festival, Saarländisches Staatstheater, Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele
Maria Polańska will join the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in the 2024/25 season, where her roles will include Olga (Eugene Onegin), Second Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Flosshilde (Das Rheingold), Mercédès (Carmen), Musico (Viva la Mamma), and Sonjetka (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk). She was previously a member of the International Opera Studio at the Nationaltheater Mannheim from 2021 to 2024, where she performed a wide range of roles including Dritte Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Fjodor (Boris Godunov), Flosshilde (Das Rheingold, Götterdämmerung), Grimgerde (Die Walküre), and Dryade (Ariadne auf Naxos). In 2022, she appeared at the Daegu International Opera Festival in South Korea with the Nationaltheater Mannheim and made her debut at the Saarländisches Staatstheater as Schwertleite (Die Walküre).
Born in Tarnów, Poland in 1995, Ms. Polańska began her vocal training at the Music Academy in Kraków under Katarzyna Oleś-Blacha. She completed her master’s degree in opera performance at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart, studying with Teru Yoshihara. She continues to receive artistic guidance from Matthias Rexroth and Eytan Pessen.
Ms. Polańska’s repertoire also includes early music, having sung Lesbia in Grétry’s Zemira e Azor at the Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin under Bernhard Forck, and Maria of Cleophas in Handel’s La Resurrezione at the Nationaltheater Mannheim under Wolfgang Katschner. Her interpretations in these performances were noted for both vocal beauty and dramatic presence.
In 2023, Ms. Polańska was awarded a scholarship by the Richard Wagner Association. She was a finalist in the 51st National Singing Competition in Berlin in 2022 and received third prize at the Ada Sari International Vocal Competition in Nowy Sącz in 2021.