One of major Polish singers, she studied vocals with Zofia Brégy and then with Jerzy Artysz, to graduate with honours from the Academy of Music in Wrocław. She had already received her degree in Slavic Philology at Warsaw University.
She won First Prize at the International Bach Competition in Leipzig in 1980 and the gold medal at the Young Soloists' Festival in Bordeaux the next year.
She specialises in oratorios and cantatas from the Baroque (Bach’s Mass in B minor and Passions, Händel’s oratorios, works by Vivaldi and Pergolesi) to contemporary music, above all the monumental works by K. Penderecki (Polish Requiem, Te Deum, Seven Gates of Jerusalem). She also possesses a broad song repertoire, from Renaissance works with lute accompaniment to those by contemporary composers
She has given concerts and recitals in the major halls of Europe and America, including the Musikverein and the Konzerthaus Vienna, La Salle Pleyel and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in paris, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, London’s Royal Albert Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall, or the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. She has worked with conductors such as R. Chailly, Sir C. Davis, Ch. Dutoit, L. Hager, B. Haitink, N. Harnoncourt, M. Janowski, A. Jordan, J. Lopez-Cobos, L. Maazel, K. Nagano, S. Ozawa, K. Penderecki, Sir S. Rattle, H. Rilling, M. Rostropovich, S. Skrowaczewski, K. Tennsted. She has performed with eminent orchestras: Wiener Philharmoniker, National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Hallé Orchestra, RIAS Berlin, Concentus Musicus, ORF Sinfonieorchester. Ms. Rappé has taken part in numerous festivals, including Salzburger Festspiele, Festival de Paris, Orange Festival, Brucknerfest Linz, Styriarte Graz, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Handel Festspiele Karlsruhe, MDR Musiksommer in Leipzig, Wratislavia Cantans, Warsaw Autumn.
Jadwiga Rappé’s repertoire also includes alto parts in operas by Händel, Gluck, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Ponchielli. She achieved a huge success as Goddess Erda in Wagner’s tetralogy Ring of the Nibelung. She performed this part at Berlin’s Deutsche Oper Berlin (also during its company’s Japanese tour), at the Covent Garden, the Royal Opera in Bruxelles, the Orange Festival, at the Wiener Staatsoper, the Grand Théâtre of Geneva; she also recorded it for EMI under B. Haitink.
Her over 30 disks have been recorded for such labels as BMG Music, Teldec, Erato, Orfeo, Naxos, Philips, Eterna, Decca, Polskie Nagrania, Polskie Radio/KOS Records, CD Accord. Her CD of Karłowicz songs (with Ewa Pobłocka) was awarded Poland’s Fryderyk Prize in 1998.
The artist is frequently invited to perform the music of G. Mahlera, whose complete alto parts belong to her repertoire. She also takes part in first performances of contemporary works (as in the 1997 Jerusalem premiere of Penderecki’s Seven Gates of Jerusalem under L. Maazel), some of these being written especially for her original alto (e.g. W. Kilar’s Missa pro pacem, 2001). Since 2000, Jadwiga Rappé has been teaching a solo vocals class at the Academy of Music in Warsaw.