Bożena Harasimowicz-Haas - soprano One of the best Polish sopranos, specializing in Baroque as well as in contemporary repertoire. Polish soprano Bozena Harasimowicz-Haas graduated with distinction from the Gdansk Academy of Music, where she studied under prof. Zofia Janukowicz-Poblocka, in 1989. She currently is a professor there. Bozena Harasimowicz-Haas has won a number of competition awards, including the second prize and the distinction for Dvorak's aria interpretation at the 1986 International Competition in Karlove Vary, Czechoslovakia; two special awards at the 1988 Ada Sari National Competition in Poland; the sixth prize at the 1988 J.S. Bach International Competition in Leipzig; she was a finalist in the 1992 ARD Int. Competition in Munich and in the 1997 in the Ferrucio Tagliavini International Competition in Austria. Professional contacts with such German tutors as Adele Stolte, Lore Fischer, Christian Elsner, Luisa Bosabalian, Judith Beckman, helped Bozena to get to know the world's vocal literature. Bozena Harasimowicz-Haas has performed with Polish and many international orchestras, including the National Philharmonic in Warsaw the Berlin and Munich philharmonics, Bach Collegium Stuttgart, the KBS Traditional Music Orchestra in Seoul and the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra in Warsaw and Katowice, as well as at the Hunter College in New York, Estonia Concert Hall in Tallinn, Vienna Musikverein, Teatro Real in Madrid, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She has also has performed at numerous festivals, among them the Wratislavia Cantans, the Warsaw Autumn Festival, the Easter Festival in Cracow, the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, Modern Vienna, the Beijing Music Festival in China, the Schleswig Holstein Festival - Hamburg, and the Rheingau Musik Festival, Gaude Mater Festival in Czestochowa. She co-operated with such a conductors like: Krzysztof Penderecki, Jacek Kaspszyk, Helmuth Rilling, Antoni Wit, Gabriel Chmura, Kazimierz Kord, Wojciech Michniewski, Tomasz Bugaj, Gilbert Levin, Uroz Lajovic, Tadeusz Wojciechowski and many others. Her repertoire ranges from oratorios and cantatas (Bach and Haendel to Mozart, Haydn, Rossini, Dvorak, and Penderecki) to symphonic works (Mahler, Orff, Strauss), songs with piano or orchestral accompaniment, and several opera roles. Among her recent engagements are works by Penderecki, including the European premiere of Seven Gates of Jerusalem with National Philharmonic in Warsaw in 1997; Black Mask, staged in Munich and conducted by the composer; Te Deum, performed as part of the one thousand years of Gdansk celebrations; Paradise Lost at the 1998 Wratislavia Cantans Festival; Credo at the 1999 Casals Festival in Puerto Rico. She consider it a great honour to has been invited by director Kazimierz Kord to perform the Te Deum by K. Penderecki on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the National Philharmonic in Warsaw on November 5th 2001. Since 2000 she has co-operated with the Great Theatre in Warsaw as a soloist: Debut - G. Verdi - DON CARLOS - Heavenly Voice, W.A. Mozart - DON GIOVANNI - Donna Elwira - directed by Mariusz Trelinski (2002), G. Puccini - LA RONDINE - Magda - directed by Marta Domingo (2003). In 2002 she recorded a 3rd Symphony by H.M. Gorecki, conducted by Tomasz Bugaj, for Hessische Rundfunk in Frankfurt am Mein. Her latest DVDs include a recording of Stabat Mater by K. Szymanowski and Carmina Burana by C. Orff with orchestra and choir of the National Theatre in Warsaw, conducted by Jacek Kaspszyk and Credo by K. Penderecki conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki with NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg and Choir of the Cracow Philharmonic.