Joanna Freszel
A soprano born in Warsaw; graduate of the Chopin University of Music, where she studied with Jadwiga Rappé at the Vocal Department, and the Interdepartmental Postgraduate Song Studies. She has for many years given concerts with the best Polish chamber ensembles and symphony orchestras.
Freszel has specialised in the interpretation of contemporary music, including works by G. Crumb, G. Ligeti, R. Haubenstock-Ramati, I. Stravinsky, and P. Mykietyn. She has premiered compositions by A. Pärt, M. Nikodijević, U. Caine, and E. Knapik. Apart from most recent music, she has also successfully performed Baroque, Classical and Romantic repertoires. She has sung as a guest artist at opera houses in Poland, Ireland, Estonia, Spain, and Italy, as well as appearing during well-known festivals (in Aix-en-Provence and Geneva’s Contrechamps), on foreign tours (among others, presenting Lutosławski’s Chantefleurs et chantefables) and gala events (the recital Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt at the UNESCO seat in Paris).
Freszel has received many prestigious awards and distinctions in vocal competitions in Poland and abroad. 2015 saw the release of her debut album, real life song, dedicated to Polish contemporary composers, which was nominated in the following year for the Fryderyk Awards of the Polish Phonographic Society (in two categories) and for the Orphée d’Or of the Académie du Disque Lyrique. In 2017 she received the ‘Polityka’ weekly’s ‘Passport’ Award.
She lectures at the Faculty of Vocal and Acting of the FCUM and conducts contemporary music performance workshops. She is also the author of the educational programs poGŁOSka and samoŚPIEW, which cover the most interesting phenomena of contemporary vocal art and voice training.