László Polgár (bass)

László Polgár ( born January 1, 1947, after coach / belt on 31 December 1946 in Somogyszentpál, South West Hungary, † 19 September 2010 in Zurich ) was a Hungarian opera singer in the bass voice type.

Life

Polgár studied from 1967 to 1972 singing at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest; He received further vocal lessons with Hans Hotter and Yevgeny Nesterenko at. He began his opera career in 1972 at the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest as Count Ceprano in Verdi's opera Rigoletto. He sang initially mostly smaller lots and Comprimario roles. From the mid- 1970s he also received larger roles. In 1978 he worked at the Budapest State Opera in the world premiere of the opera The Man Outside by Sándor Balassa with. Later, he also sang Leporello in Don Giovanni (1982 ), the Gurnemanz in Parsifal (1983) and the Father Superior in The Force of Destiny (1990).

In 1978 he guested for the first time abroad. At the Hamburg State Opera he sang Osmin in Mozart's Singspiel Die Entführung aus dem Serail. In 1981 he was a guest at the Royal Opera House in London as Conte Rodolfo in La sonnambula. There were other commitments abroad at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels ( 1982), at the Opera House of Philadelphia ( 1982), at the Berlin State Opera (1983) and at the Grand Opéra Paris ( 1986).

From 1985, he sang regularly at the Salzburg Festival. He appeared there as Sarastro in The Magic Flute (1985/1986), as Publio in La Clemenza di Tito (1987 ), as a priest in Moses und Aron (1996 ), as Wagner in Doctor Faustus (1999), in the title role of Bluebeard castle (2001) and in The Bacchae by Egon Wellesz (2003) on. From 1986 to 1991 he had a firm guest contract with the Vienna State Opera. He joined, among others, as Sarastro, Leporello, Publio, Father Guardian, Colline in La Bohème, Turandot and Timur on in as a hermit in Der Freischütz. In 1989 he sang at the Savonlinna Opera Festival as well as Sarastro.

From 1991 to 2009 Polgár was a permanent member of the Zurich Opera House; he was there, however, even after his official retirement continued to work as a guest singer. Priorities of his repertoire were the bass roles in operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the Italian bel canto operas. In Zurich he sang, among others, the Sarastro, the Phanuel in Hérodiade by Jules Massenet (1991 ), the Oroveso in Norma ( 1995), the title role in Duke Bluebeard's Castle (1996 ), Sir Giorgio in I Puritani (1999), Enrico in Anna Bolena (2000), Sparafucile (2002), Rocco in Fidelio (2004) and last Conte Walter in Luisa Miller ( April 2010).

In parallel, he has appeared at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich ( as Leporello, Timur and Sparafucile ), at the Nice Opera ( 1991 as Leporello), at the Teatro Bellini ( 1991 Conte Rodolfo ) at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie (1992 as Basilio in the Barber of Seville ), La Scala ( 1995 Bluebeard's Castle, 2001 as Conte Walter ), at the Opera of Lausanne ( 1997 as Rocco in Fidelio ) at the Théâtre des Champs- Élysées (1997 also as Rocco ) on Teatro Colón ( 1998 Osmin ), at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (2000 Gurnemanz ) and at the Edinburgh Festival ( 2001).

In addition to his opera performances Polgár also appeared extensively as a concert singer forth, especially in oratorios, masses and sacred cantatas. He gave concerts in Hungary, Italy, France and Canada. 1984 and 1987 he sang at New York's Carnegie Hall, the bass solo in Haydn's oratorio The Creation. His concert repertoire included the Missa Solemnis and the Verdi Requiem.

Since 1978, Polgár was a professor at the Academy of Music Budapest. He also taught at the renowned Zurich Opera Studio. In 1990 he was awarded the Kossuth Prize. In 1999 he received a Grammy Award for his recording of Duke Bluebeard's Castle by Jessye Norman, conductor Pierre Boulez and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.