TURN OF THE
SCREW
DIE SIEBEN
TODSÜNDEN
COLD
MOUNTAIN
DIALOGUES DES CARMÉLITES
MAGDALENA KUŹMA
raised for being a “standout” with “star quality” by Opera News, Polish-American soprano Magdalena Kuźma is promptly establishing a name for herself in both concert and operatic repertoire.
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In the 2022-2023 season, Magdalena made her house debut at Santa Fe Opera as Frasquita in Bizet's Carmen, alongside international stars Isabel Leonard and Michael Fabiano. There she also sang Lucia in the Act II finale of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and Elvira in the Act I finale of Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri. This fall, she is slated to sing recitals with LyricFest, perform Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at Opera Orlando, and sing Giannetta in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore at The Metropolitan Opera where she starts her first year as a Lindemann Young Artist.
Magdalena was recently a winner of the SAS Performing Arts Competition, ACPC Marcella Sembrich Vocal Competition, the Opera Mississippi John Alexander Vocal Competition, the Butler International Voice Competition, the Pasadena Opera Vocal Competition, and Grand Prize at the Concert Artists Guild Competition; in addition to placing 2nd at the Metropolitan Opera Regionals & Shreveport Opera Competition. She also placed 3rd & won Audience Favorite in the National Opera Association's 2021 Carolyn Bailey Argento Competition and was a finalist in the 2021 Camerata Bardi Competition. Summer of 2021, she returned to San Francisco Opera's Merola Program and was also a fellow at Ravinia's Steans Music Institute. Kuźma recently completed her Master's at Yale School of Music, where in her first year she was awarded Yale’s Harriet Gibbs Fox Memorial Prize presented to a student who has achieved the highest grade point average. In 2022, she was presented with the Dean's Award, "Yale's highest excellence Award given to a member of the graduating class who is selected by the dean in consultation with the faculty." While there, Kuźma performed the leading role of Adina in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore and sang scenes as Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, Manon in Massenet's Manon , and Echo in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos at Yale this season. A passionate recitalist, Magdalena performed solo programs at the Arts Club of Washington in D.C.; NYC's Saint John's in the Village (NYFA); Yale University; and in Paris' iconic Galerie dorée de la Banque de France. She was also seen performing with Richmond Symphony as the soloist in the Mahler 4 Symphony in March.
In the 2020 -21 season, Magdalena was announced as an artist at Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artists Vocal Academy. In June 2020, she joined San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola Opera Program, where she was scheduled to sing the role of Barbarina and cover the leading role of Susanna in Mozart’s comedy, Le Nozze di Figaro. Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, she was also slated to perform a solo recital as part of the Carnegie Hall CityWide Recital Series. While at Yale University, she role studied Anne Trulove from Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress and Sophie from Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier. Select scenes were filmed and can be viewed on Yale's YouTube.
In summer 2019, as a fellow at Music Academy of the West, she performed the role of Lila in the West Coast premiere of Jennifer Higdon's award-winning opera Cold Mountain, directed by James Darrah and conducted by Daniela Candillari. While there, she coached the role and took lessons with world-renowned mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard and tenor Jay Hunter Morris, both leads in the world premiere. During her time at Music Academy, Magdalena also participated in the opera scenes program where she played Helena in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Anna in Nicolai’s Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor. In August, she competed in the 2019 Marilyn Horne competition. Magdalena has had the privilege of working with Ms. Horne both in Santa Barbara and Oberlin, where she received lessons and was featured in a live-streamed masterclass in Finney Chapel.
An avid lover and performer of contemporary music, Kuźma was an Oberlin 2019 Concerto Competition finalist performing André Previn’s Honey and Rue. Magdalena also coached and performed John Musto’s cycle Enough Rope at Carnegie Hall for “What Composers Want” - a panel discussion exploring the collaborative process between singer and composer with Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Paola Presitini, Chris Thile, and John Musto.
" ... A voice that instantly engages the listener:
shining,
free and lustrous. "
In January 2019, Magdalena Kuźma was one of the youngest of 10 singers who were selected from a global pool to be mentored by Renée Fleming in the inaugural year of SongStudio- a Carnegie Hall initiative that explores the future of song recital. While at Carnegie she continued her passion for new music by working with world-acclaimed composer Nico Muhly on his songs and performing Tom Cipullo’s How to Get Heat Without Fire in recital. Throughout the initiative, she was featured on a masterclass with Polish tenor Piotr Beczała and worked with Renée Fleming, Kevin Newbury, Javier Arrebola, Hartmut Höll, Bénédicte Jourdois, J.J. Penna, and Gerald Martin Moore.
Kuźma graduated from Oberlin College & Conservatory with degrees in Vocal Performance and Psychology. She studied under the tutelage of Marlene Rosen. In spring 2019, Ms. Kuźma was awarded The Margot Bos Stambler '84 Professional Development Award provided to “an outstanding Oberlin Conservatory voice major of great promise with support to enhance career opportunities.” Cumulating her undergraduate studies, Magdalena performed the lead role of Blanche in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, as well as Anna I and Anna II in Kurt Weil’s Die sieben Todsünden. Upon graduation, Magdalena Kuźma was selected to sing on the Commencement Recital where she performed works by Rachmaninoff.
Additional operatic roles include Giannetta in Donizetti’s L'elisir d’amour and Miles in Britten’s Turn of the Screw both directed by John Giampietro and conducted by Miloš Repický with Chautauqua Institution. While there, she was selected by Bénédicte Jourdois to perform on her recital “Yvonne Printemps”. In 2016, she performed Drusilla in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea in Italy’s Teatro Petrarca.
Formerly, Ms. Kuźma was a fellow at The Bach Institute in collaboration with Emmanuel Music where she worked with Kendra Colton and conductor Ryan Turner. She studied at the Chautauqua Institution led by famed teacher, Marlena Malas, at Oberlin in Italy, CSNY, and at the Académie Internationale d’été de Nice in France with Lorraine Nubar and pianist Dalton Baldwin. Previous education includes The Juilliard School (Pre-College Division) and LaGuardia Arts where she performed in recitals, opera scenes, Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, and Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène. Award-winning internationally, she has won awards from Arlene Shrut's New Triad Competition and received grants from The George London Foundation, International Festival Foundation, and Margot Music Fund.
