VOICE 2008 : Third Prize
Mezzo-soprano Bernadetta Grabias first obtained degrees in piano and oboe. In 2004 she graduated in singing from the Lodz Music Academy under Ziemowit Wojtczak. She also obtained a Certificate in Conducting. In duo with pianist Michal Grabias she won a prize in the 13th International 20th Century Chamber Music Competition in Lodz (2001) and reached the finals in the 6th J.I. Paderewski International Chamber Music Competition in Cracow (2002). In addition, she was awarded prizes for a number of solo performances. In april 2008, she received the 'Polish Brilliant of Dziennik Lodzki' prize for outstanding young artist.
Since October 2004 Bernadetta Grabias has been a soloist in the Grand Theatre of Lodz. Her double debut in «Adriana Lecouvreur» by F. Cilea and «Lucrezia Borgia» by G. Donizetti was much appreciated by the Polish Artists Union, which awarded her the Leon Schiller 2004 Best Debut Prize. As a result, she was offered the role of Maffio Orsini in its Swiss production in St. Moritz and Riehen.
Her opera repertoire covers parts such as Carmen, Isabella (L’italiana in Algeri), Orsini (Lucrezia Borgia), Lucretia (The Rape of Lucretia), Princessa di Bouillon (Adriana Lecouvreur), Olga (Eugene Onegin), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Jane Seymour (Anna Bolena), Rosina et Berta (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Nicklausse (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Doralba (L’impresario in Augustie), Miss Baggott (The Little Sweep), Jadwiga (Straszny dwór). She also sings sacred music : Verdi's Requiem, Mozart's Requiem and Krönungsmesse, Liszt's Via Crucis and Pergolesi's Stabat Mater.
Bernadetta Grabias boasts cooperations with such conductors as Kazushi Ono, Julia Jones, Johan Neal Axelrode, ?ukasz Borowicz, Will Crutchfield, Stefan Klingele and Günter Neuhold. She has performed with the Orchestre Symphonique De La Monnaie, National Orchestra of Belgium, the Orchestra of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, the Symfonisch Orkest van de Vlaamse Opera, the Orchestra of Grand Theater of Lodz, the Symphony Orchestra of The Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic, the Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra of Lodz, the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Poznan.