Żylis-Gara Teresa Gerarda, *23 January 1930 Landwarów (near Vilinus), †28 August 2021 Łódź, Polish singer (soprano). After settling down with her family in Łódź after World War II, she took singing lessons at the State Higher School of Music, then in 1952–54 at the State Higher School of Music under the supervision of O. Olgina. In 1952, she won the first prize in an intercollegiate music competition, and in 1953 in a national vocal competition in Warsaw. In 1954, B. Wodiczko engaged her – still a student – as a permanent soloist in the philharmonic orchestra in Krakow he managed, but a year later Żylis-Gara had to discontinue this cooperation for family reasons. In 1956, she joined the Krakow opera company, making her debut with the title role in S. Moniuszko’s Halka, and soon afterwards she appeared in G. Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and J. Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann. In 1960, she took part in the international German radio broadcasting competition (ARD) in Munich, winning the third prize. Having not received any interesting offers in the country, she signed a 2-year contract with the theatre in Oberhausen, and for the next 2 years with the opera theatre in Dortmund. In 1965–70, she was a soloist of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. She performed at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1965 (Octavian in R. Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier) and 1967 (Donna Elvira in W.A. Mozart’s Don Giovanni). A breakthrough moment in Żylis-Gara’s career was a guest appearance in 1966 at the Opera in Paris, where her portrayal of Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni was considered a sensation. As a result of this success, she was invited to Coven Garden (1968/69, 1976–80), the Salzburg Festival and the Vienna Opera (from 1972). In 1968, she made her debut in San Francisco, and in January 1969 on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York (Donna Elvira). Żylis-Gara created, among others, roles of the title character in J. Massenet’s Manon, the Countess in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and Elizabeth in G. Verdi’s Don Carlos. In December 1976, she appeared in the title role in Puccini’s Tosca at the Grand Theatre in Warsaw, and in January 1977, she appeared for the first time at La Scala in Milan (Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello). In 1979, she began to play roles in Wagner’s works: Elsa in Lohengrin, Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, and later also Sieglinde in Valkyrie. She also successfully sang parts in R. Strauss’s operas: the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos and the Marshal’s role in Der Rosenkavalier. After performing on the Hamburg opera stage as Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello (1988), she devoted herself to concert activities.
She was a lyric soprano by nature, and thanks to her extremely hard work, she developed an extensive and versatile repertoire, gaining worldwide fame and the position of one of the most outstanding singers of the second half of the 20th century. In addition to operatic creations, she performed many excellent works from a rich stage repertoire – solo (mainly songs by French composers) and oratorio (E. de Cavalieri, J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart, G. Mahler). She had an extensive discography (Columbia, HMV-Electrola, EMI, DGG, Harmonia Mundi, Nimbus, Opera D’Oro, Myto, Polskie Nagrania, Dux). She took part, among others, in the recording of the St. Matthew Passion by J.S. Bach (with H. Prey, N. Gedda, J. Hamari), Dixit Dominus by G.F. Händel (conducted by D. Willcocks), G. Rossini’s operas: Moses (conducted by W. Sawallisch, performed in 1968) and Wilhelm Tell (conducted by J. Delacôte, performed in 1974), Mozart’s Don Giovanni conducted by H. von Karajan (staged 1970) and K. Böhm (performed 1977), operas Benvenuto Cellini by H. Berlioz conducted by S. Ozawa (performed 1973), also songs by F. Chopin (with H. Czerny-Stefańska, W. Malicki), I.J. Paderewski (with W. Malicki) and K. Szymanowski (Op. 5, with J. Marchwiński).
Żylis-Gara sat on the jury of the 4th International S. Moniuszko Vocal Competition in Warsaw (2001). In recent years, she was intensively involved in pedagogy, conducting classes at numerous master classes – also in Poland (Warsaw 2003, Radziejowice 2007). In 2003, she received an honorary doctorate from the Academy of Music in Wrocław.
