Polish soprano Sembrich-Kochańska remembered in Białystok
PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea
12.01.2016 10:30
An exhibition documenting the life and artistic career of Marcella Sembrich-Kochańska has opened at the Opera Theatre in Białystok, north-eastern Poland.
Marcelina Sembrich-Kochańska. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
It features a wide selection of her photographs and letters, as well as of the letters written to her by such great figures as Enrico Caruso, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, the pianist and statesman Ignacy Jan Paderewski and the actress Helena Modrzejewska.
Sembrich-Kochańska made her debut as Elvira in Bellini’s “I Puritani” in Athens in 1877, at the age of 19, later becoming a star of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where she sang more than 450 performances in her 11 seasons there.
She also appeared in all of Europe’s leading opera houses, including those in London, Paris, Berlin, Dresden, Vienna and St Petersburg.
Sembrich-Kochańska was a great Polish patriot. She served as President of the American-Polish Relief Committee in New York during World War One, which conducted a fund-raising campaign for the Polish people.
The exhibition also document her indefatigable efforts to promote work by such Polish composers as Moniuszko, Stojowski and Paderewski in her recitals.
Sembrich-Kochańska died in New York in 1935 at the age of 77. One of her portraits hangs in the Metropolitan Opera House.
The exhibition in Białystok remains on show until 26 February. It had earlier been displayed in over 20 towns. (mk/rg)