Szczepańska Krystyna, nee Bulak, *25 January 1917 Nasielsk (near Warsaw), †30 August 1986 Warsaw, Polish singer (mezzo-soprano). After graduating from pedagogical studies at the Conservatory in Warsaw (1939), she completed vocal studies under S. Belina-Skupiewski (1940–44). She debuted in 1947 as Amneris in Verdi’s Aida on the stage of Silesian Opera in Bytom, where she worked for the following ten years. From 1957 until the end of her career, she was a soloist at the Grand Theatre in Warsaw. Thanks to her beautiful voice with a noble timbre, masterful vocal technique and high musical culture, Szczepańska was an excellent performer of a variety of repertoire – both opera (approx. 40 roles) and oratorio (approx. 50 pieces). She has performed on stages in many European countries, including Milan, Rome, Brussels, Moscow, Leningrad and Budapest. Szczepanska’s most brilliant operatic roles included: Amneris, the title character in Bizet’s Carmen, Azucena in Il trovatore and Princess Ebola in Verdi’s Don Carlos, as well as Orpheus in Gluck’s Orfeo et Eurydice and Octavian in R. Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. From 1966, Szczepańska taught a singing class at the PWSM (since 1979 Academy of Music) in Warsaw.
