Budziszewska Maria, married name Prokopp, *25 March 1900 Warsaw, †13 February 1989 Warsaw, Polish soprano singer. After studying at the Warsaw Conservatory under E. Heintz and at the Theatre School under T. Roland, she made her debut in 1922 as Halka at the Warsaw Opera, where she was subsequently hired by E. Młynarski. Until 1929, she sang leading roles in Italian operas and those by P. Tchaikovsky at the Warsaw Opera, in Żeleński’s Goplana (Balladyna), as well as in Wagner’s operas and dramas (The Flying Dutchman, Lohengrin, Die Walküre); the highlight of her career was her performance as Kundry in the first Polish production of Parsifal (March 1927). After 1930, she made guest appearances in many Polish cities and was also a soloist at the opera in Lviv for a short time. After World War II, she returned for one season to the re-emerging opera in Warsaw, singing in Moniuszko’s Halka, Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci; she also took part in performances at the Silesian Opera in Bytom and the Wrocław Opera. Until 1953, she performed in concerts and radio broadcasts.
