Piotr Lempa
Born in Poland, Piotr Lempa studied at the Academy of Music in Gdansk, the Royal Academy of Music in London, and the Cardiff International Academy of Voice.
He made his professional operatic debut in 2009 with English Touring Opera as Oroveso Norma and roles with the company since then have included Fiesco Simon Boccanegra, L’Incognito in Donizetti’s L’Assedio di Calais, Seneca The Coronation of Poppea, Orestes in Cavalli’s Giasone, Sarastro Die Zauberflöte, Commendatore Don Giovanni, Patroclus King Priam and Benny Paul Bunyan.
Elsewhere he has sung Colline La Bohème, Don Pedro Beatrice and Benedict, Truffaldino Ariadne auf Naxos (Welsh National Opera), Masetto Don Giovanni (Theater Magdeburg), Hamon in Handel’s Esther (Karlsruhe), Don Alfonso in Donizetti’s Maria Padilla, Groma/Feenkoenig in Wagner’s Die Feen (Chelsea Opera Group), the title role in Brundibar (Mahogany Opera Group), Lord Rochefort Anna Bolena (Auditorio di Tenerife), Sarastro (Opera di Firenze), Commendatore (Opéra Normande), Lorenzo I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Wurm Luisa Miller (Hamburger Kammeroper), and Sarastro on tour in France.
In his native Poland he has sung with the National Polish Opera in Warsaw, the Baltic Opera in Gdansk, and Festivals in Hel, Lomza and Wroclaw in roles including Sparafucile Rigoletto, Angelotti Tosca, Sprecher Die Zauberflöte, Bartolo Le Nozze di Figaro, Colas Bastenne und Bastienne, Fiorella Il barbiere di Siviglia, Lord Rochefort Anna Bolena, Dziemba in Moniusko’s Halka, and Lucifero in Scarlatti’s Il primo omicidio.
On the concert platform he has sung many concerts both in Poland and in the UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France and the USA. He sang the Verdi Requiem in the Warwick Arts Centre, King’s College Chapel, Cambridge and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
In 2004 whilst still a student he sang Uberto in Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona for the Baltic Opera in Gdansk and was awarded the Governor of Province Pomorskie Theatre Prize for the best role. In 2005 he received the Hamburg State Opera Director Special Prize in the XI Ada Sari Vocal Competition in Nowy Sacz. In 2007 he was awarded the Nicolai Ghiurov Scholarship given by Mirella Freni to a promising young bass.
He is currently a member of Opernhaus Zürich.
Gallery
Artist Videos
BRUNDIBAR/MAHOGANY OPERA GROUP
“Because Brundibár is barely half an hour long, it’s necessary to find a programme filler, so the first half of the show consists of choral and solo songs, led by the excellent Lempa, many of them also grimly associated with Theresienstadt and its inmates.” The Telegraph, November 2014
KING PRIAM/ENGLISH TOURING OPERA
“Conway views the opera as being as much about sex as war: the scenes between …Charne Rochford’s powerhouse Achilles and Piotr Lempa’s full-on Patroclus, are palpably erotic.” Guardian, February 2014
THE CORONATION OF POPPEA/ENGLISH TOURING OPERA
“Piotr Lempa’s Seneca delivered delicious rumbling bass notes..” Stage Talk Magazine, November 2013
“Piotr Lempa was very much the musical embodiment of stoicism as Seneca, singing the part with nobility and dignity.”Classical Source, November 2013
“Even the stern philosopher Seneca (a granite-voiced Piotr Lempa) has his flaws, including arrogance.” What’s On Stage, November 2013
“The standout performance though was Piotr Lempa’s grave and dignified Seneca, in a role that can easily become parody (the music perhaps facilitates this). It is vital that Seneca’s death be genuinely tragic, as here is a sane man who is willing to stand up even to Nerone, despite his fear. Yet in the end, he accepts death rather than struggle to overthrow evil, and this resignation permits evil to triumph.” Alun Howard, November 2013
DIE FEEN/CHELSEA OPERA GROUP/QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL
“Piotr Lempa was a wonderful bass in Act III as the voice of the magician Groma, and as the Fairy King who eventually bestows immortality on Arindal after he has released Ada from petrifaction.” Theatre Reviews, March 2013
“Piotr Lempa splendidly stentorian in the small roles of the Voice of Groma the magician and the Fairy King; I should not be surprised to hear him in the future as a big-stage Commendatore, even a Fafner.” Boulezian, March 2013
BEATRICE AND BENEDICT/WELSH NATIONAL OPERA
“The role of Don Pedro is musically very small, but the character is quite a player in the spoken dialogue; Piotr Lempa, the only non-native English speaker in the cast, coped brilliantly nevertheless.” Opera Today, February 2012
Opera Repertoire
| COMPOSER | OPERA | ROLE |
|---|---|---|
| Britten | The Rape of Lucretia | Collatinus |
| Handel | Agrippina | Claudio |
| Handel | Gulio Cesare | Tolomeo |
| Handel | Rinaldo | Christian Mago |
| Handel | Semele | Somnus |
| Tchaikovsky | Eugene Onegin | Prince Gremin |
| Tchaikovsky | Iolanta | King Rene |
| TITLE | COMPOSER | RECORD COMPANY | DISC NUMBER |
|---|---|---|---|
| Russia with Love (Romances & Songs) |
Various |
Soliton | B00B8GF3RK |
