Polish Bass-Baritone Robert Gierlach recently made his debut with Teatro alla Scala in Milan as the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro, and his American debut in the signature role Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro with Michigan Opera Theatre to unanimous acclaim. Opera Magazine says he performs with “heaps of personality and stage presence as well as vocal finesse,” while the Miami Herald praises his “immediate impact as a charming Figaro. His powerful stage presence and commanding voice combine perfectly with his considerable comic abilities.”

Other signature roles include Papageno in The Magic Flute and the title role in Don Giovanni, which he has performed in major European and American companies including Teatro alla Scala, Rome Opera, Teatro Filarmonico Verona, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro Verdi di Trieste, Royal Albert Hall, Salzburg Opera, Amsterdam Opera, Montreal Opera, L’Opera de Nice, Opera of Marseilles, Champs-Elysées Theatre, Cape Town Opera, and the Festival of Glyndebourne. He is now is demand with U.S. houses including Florida Grand Opera, Baltimore Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and Spoleto Festival U.S.A., among others.

Recent performances include Creon in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with Mo. Charles Dutoit with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva and Lausanne, and with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie Hall; Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in Vienna and Kraków (Poland); Mendelssohn’s Elias and a Mozart and Chopin concert in Warsaw, and Papageno in The Magic Flute in Gdańsk (Poland). Most recent engagements include Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro in his Opera Lyra Ottawa debut, Creon in Oedipus Rex in concert with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, Papageno in The Magic Flute with the Warsaw National Opera, and a return to the Michigan Opera Theatre as Don Giovanni, a role he performed in his Arizona Opera and Opera Cleveland debuts in 2009.

Additionally, Mr. Gierlach recently made his New York City Opera debut as Leporello in Don Giovanni, and created the role of Vronsky in the world premiere of Anna Karenina with Florida Grand Opera and the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. The Miami Herald said he “brought an apt intensity and complexity to the role of Anna’s conflicted lover.” Additional recent American engagements include Papageno in The Magic Flute with the Michigan Opera Theatre, and debuts with Baltimore Opera, L’Opera de Montreal and Florida Grand Opera as Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro. Recent engagements abroad include King Roger in Tokyo, Zurich and Stockholm, Alidoro in La Cenerentola at the Opera House of Mahón (Menorca), Achille in Giulio Cesare with the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Figaro and Don Giovanni at the Mozart Festival in Warsaw and Jeanie d’Arc with Oratorium-Wratislavia Cantans Festival.

In concert, Mr. Gierlach has appeared in King Roger and Rossini’s Stabat Mater at Carnegie Hall and at Places des Arts with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra; Stabat Mater with the Berlin Philharmonic, in Warsaw under the baton of Maestro Nello Santi, and in Vienna; Oedipus Rex with the Orchestre National de France; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in Dresda and Rostock; Handel’s Dettingen Te deum with the Cracow Philharmonic; Haydn’s Creation with the NHK Orchestra Toyko conducted by Charles Dutoit; Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Teatro Filarmonico Verona conducted by Shlomo Minz; the Holocaust Cantata at the Shleswig Holstein Festival with conductor Yehundi Menuhin; Brahms’ Ein Deutches Requiem with the Bydgoszcz Philharmonic; Beethoven’s Missa solemnis with the Krakow Philharmonic; Mozart’s Requiem with the Warsaw Philharmonic; and Bartok’s Cantata Pagana with the Polish National Philharmonic.

A native of Poland, Mr. Gierlach received his degree from the Academy of Music of Chopin, under the instruction of Professor Kazimierz Pustelak. He can be heard on numerous recordings with the Radio and Television Polonaise, and on a recording of King Roger with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.