Mikołajczyk Anna
is a graduate of the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy in the class of Małgorzata Marczewska. Her repertoire is very broad, ranging from medieval secular songs, through the music of the Baroque and later periods, up to contemporary music.
She is a soloist with the Warsaw Chamber Opera, and works regularly with the Baltic Opera.
She has worked with conductors such as Mirosław Jacek Błaszczyk, Piotr Borkowski, José Florencio, Paul Goodwin, Kazimierz Kord, Kai Bumann, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Zsolt Nagy, Marcin Nałęcz-Niesiołowski, Charles Olivieri-Munroe, Wojciech Rajski, Marcin Sompoliński, Stefan Stuligrosz, Marek Štryncl, Roman Valek and Antoni Wit.
Much of her concert work is devoted to oratorio-cantata music, and her interpretations of early music are particularly highly regarded. She works with prominent representatives of this performance strand, such as Jan Tomasz Adamus, Marc Coudle, Tadeusz Czechak, Agata Sapiecha, Marek Toporowski, Jacek Urbaniak and Jerzy Żak, as well as ensembles and orchestras which specialise in this kind of music.
In 2001 she was awarded the Zofia Rayzacher Prize „For the greatest artistic individuality in the area of early music” at the 11th Festival of Early Music at the Royal Castle in Warsaw.
Many composers of new music entrust the performance, often the first performance, of their works, to Anna Mikołajczyk, including are such names as Benedykt Konowalski and Paweł Łukaszewski.
November 2011 saw the world premiere in Paris of Elżbieta Sikora’s opera Madame Curie, in which Anna Mikołąjczyk sang the title role. The production by the Baltic Opera, directed by Marek Weiss and conducted by Wojciech Michniewski, was enthusiastically received by audiences and the critics, and a survey by the newspaper “Gazeta Wyborcza” awarded the Sztormy 2011 prize to the singer and the composer. Anna Mikołajczyk was also awarded the theatre prize of the Mayor of the City of Gdańsk for the part.
She has made many recordings for Polish Radio and TV, and recorded discs with such ensembles as Ars Nova, Dekameron, Il Canto, Capella Augustana, and such orchestras as Concerto Polacco, Kleine Kammer-Musique, Musicae Antiquae Collegium Varsoviense and Polish Radio Orchestra. Many of these discs were awarded the phonographic Fryderyk Prize.
In 2007 the record company DUX released her solo disc on which the singer, with the pianist Edward Wolanin, presents the songs of Karol Szymanowski. This recording was recognised by the Phonographic Academy by being awarded two Fryderyk 2008 prizes, in the categories of Vocal Recital Album of the Year, and Phonographic Debut of the Year.
